United Hebrew Congregation Temple Israel on South Sixth Street has been invited to participate in the first round of the Sacred Places Indiana grant program established by the Indiana Landmarks organization.
Scott Skillman, president of the United Hebrew Congregation, said the aging temple, built around 1911, has many maintenance problems, and limited funds to address them. Member affiliation has declined in recent years, he said, mostly due to the aging of the congregation as well as the mobility of society as people move in and out of the community.
“We have a beautiful building,” Skillman said, “but it doesn’t matter how many members we have or don’t have. The cost to maintain it continues.”
He noted that the congregation at this point is just “looking into” the Sacred Places grant as an option, and is not fully committed to the program at this time. But the congregation is seriously looking at alternative uses for the building to generate revenue.
“As a board member, it would be almost malfeasance not to explore the options,” Skillman said of opportunities such as Sacred Places Indiana. “It’s a service to religious communities, and you have to explore all avenues for maintaining your structure.”
The congregation at Temple Israel became “united” in the early part of the 1900s when the local orthodox and the local reformed congregations agreed to leave their synagogues and come together in one place to share a building. For many years, an orthodox service was conducted followed by a reformed service.
Terre Haute has many active congregations in historic structures, and Sacred Places program director David Frederick said that diversity in geographic location and denominational affiliation will be considered as the program accepts applications statewide. Up to 30 congregations could go through the program during its first three years, he said, and he anticipates that 20 or 25 groups may apply to be in the first-year training.
The program is a partnership between Indiana Landmarks and Philadelphia-based Partners for Sacred Places, supported by a $1.2 million grant from Lilly Endowment.