The last remaining synagogue on Minnesota’s Iron Range, now a museum and cultural center.

In the 1890s Virginia became an important center for the lumber and mining industries in an area of northeastern Minnesota known as the Iron Range. As the area boomed, so did its Jewish population. Synagogues were established in Eveleth (1909), Virginia (1909), Chisholm (1913) and Hibbing (1922). Built of red brick with 13 elaborate stained glass windows the Romanesque style building was described in the local press when it was dedicated as “the most beautiful church on the Iron Range.”

During the second half of the twentieth century the mines of the Iron Range became less important, and as economic activity in the area dwindled, the Jewish population declined. The synagogues in Hibbing, Chisholm and Eveleth closed and by 1990 B’nai Abraham was the last synagogue on the Iron Range. By the mid-1990s B’nai Abraham was forced to close as it had only a handful of members. By 2002 there were only two remaining members and the building was listed as one of Minnesota’s most threatened historic structures.

In 2004 a non-profit organization, Friends of B’nai Abraham, was formed to preserve the building. After purchasing the former synagogue, with the help of state and local grants as well as private donations Friends of B’nai Abraham restored the building. The building was reopened in 2008, jointly managed by the Friends of B’nai Abraham and the Virginia Area Historical Society. It is used as a cultural center and museum and includes a permanent exhibit documenting the history of Jewish settlement on the Iron Range.

B’nai Abraham Synagogue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s.