In 1960 the Beth Sholom Congregation attempted to build a temple at Fairmount Boulevard and Brainard Road in the Village of Pepper Pike. The village council relaxed the Van Sweringen deed restrictions that required the consent of the nearest 21 homeowners to sell any building lot, but nearby homeowners banded together to block the temple, insisting that anti-Semitism was not a motive but rather concerns about the property values. However, they pointed to not wanting an influx of "strangers." When the new Reform congregation Brith Emeth acquired land near Brainard Circle in 1962, it managed to win approval to build without a backlash. By the time the temple opened in 1967, a substantial Jewish population called Pepper Pike home. | Creator: Plain Dealer, July 19, 1962Download Original File
