HISTORY OF CONGREGATION AHAVATH SHALOM IN BLUEFIELD, WV

 The earliest known Jewish settlers moved into southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia in the mid-1880s, primarily to Pocahontas, Keystone, Kimball, Northfork and Welch.  Bluefield was incorporated as a city in 1890, and thereafter many moved to Bluefield.  They formed Congregation Ahavath Sholom in 1902, met in private homes, and in 1907 purchased a property on Scott Street which served the congregation until it was sold in 1941. The first recorded service there was a wedding on January 21, 1908. 

The present Temple at 632 Albemarle Street was built in 1947-48, and the first service was the Bar Mitzvah of Robert Kwass on September 24, 1948.  In the mid-1960s a classroom addition was constructed.  The original members were Orthodox, but over the years the congregation evolved into a Reform one affiliated with the UAHC. During the great majority of these years we have been served by full-time rabbis.  

At the height of Bluefield’s dominant position in the southern West Virginia coalfields, our congregation numbered 120 families, including Bluefield, Princeton and Athens, the majority of which were merchants.  Today’s membership is comprised primarily of professional and business men and women with about 38 families.  In May 2002 a centennial celebration was held to commemorate our 100th anniversary.