The oldest synagogue in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.

B’nai Jacob synagogue is the oldest purpose-built synagogue in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The building was designed and built by the Jewish community members in 1906, before rural Middletown was swallowed up by the expanding city of Harrisburg. The synagogue was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

During the early 1900s there were about 20 Jewish families who had settled in the Middletown area. They were primarily immigrants hailing from small towns in Lithuania who found that rural Middletown had much the same character as the places they had left behind. They were peddlers, junk dealers, grocers and tradesmen as was typical for Jewish immigrants.

One current day community member reminisced “My mother was ahead of her time! She brown bagged my father’s lunch every day while he was helping to dig the foundation.” Another mentioned “I can recall the excitement of the evening we burned the mortgage.” The simple and austere red brick building is elegant in its simplicity. All of the windows are pointed arch in shape and glazed with stained glass. The original brass light fixtures, carved wood balcony, wainscoting and railings adorn the interior which has remained unchanged, except for the carpeted aisles, since the synagogues’ construction. The sturdy wooden pews came from an early Dauphin County Courthouse.