Downtown locale was second site for Congregation Agudas Achim; now it’s the M&S Tower.
In a photo with your March 3 column, in the background to the left of the M&S hospital is the dome of an old synagogue. It’s where the M& S Tower sits today on Main Avenue . It would be interesting to know the name and when built and when sold to the Baptist Hospital .
— Paul MacNamee, Granbury That’s the second building of Congregation Agudas Achim, chartered in 1889 and now in its fourth permanent premises at 16550 Huebner Road. Originally Orthodox and now Conservative, the congregation started on West Commerce Street and built its first synagogue at Aubrey and Guilbeau streets. Designed by architect J. Riely Gordon, known for his Texas courthouses including Bexar County’s, the synagogue was dedicated in 1898. That location was damaged by the Great Flood of 1921, and Agudas Achim moved temporarily to rented rooms while raising funds for the building you ask about. S.A. HISTORY: Signs of San Antonio history in the streets The congregation already had outgrown its first purpose-built home and had purchased property on Main Avenue at Quincy Street. Then-Rabbi Nathan Gerstein told the San Antonio Light, April 25, 1918, that the Guilbeau Street synagogue had “a seating capacity for less than one-half the members, so great been the increase in the last five years.” Gerstein said the new building would be “among the most up-to-date structures of this country,” with an adjoining Hebrew Institute fronting on Quincy Street — the forerunner of the Jewish Community Center would be “what the YMCA is to the Christian churches.” The new synagogue had “all modern conveniences” and was “of Moorish and Oriental design,” says the San Antonio Express, Sept. 22, 1923, with domes and arched windows. John M. Marriott was the architect; some of his other local projects were San Antonio’s Fire Station No. 1, officers’ quarters at Randolph Field, a new wing for the St. Anthony Hotel and the Olmos Theater. S.A. HISTORY: Baptist church preserves former Jewish homestead Once again, the congregation outgrew this new structure. Agudas Achim “purchased a large tract on Donaldson and St. Cloud avenues, near Jefferson High School, in what was then the heart of the Jewish community,” says a history on its website, www.agudas-achim.org, and moved to its next new synagogue in 1954. Following population trends, it moved once more in 1996 to its present synagogue. The Jewish Community Center remained at 112 E. Quincy St. until its next building was dedicated in 1958 at 215 Rampart Drive. Meanwhile, as described in this column, Dec. 12, 2015, Medical and Surgical or M&S Hospital at 215 Camden St. — a few blocks from Agudas Achim on Main — merged in 1945 with Physicians and Surgeons or P&S Hospital at nearby 111 Dallas St. The combined institution was acquired in 1948 by the Southern Baptist Convention, which renamed it Baptist Memorial Hospital and continued growing in the area. S.A. HISTORY: Growth and mergers changed hospital’s name, ownership Although the former M&S had become a nonprofit entity in the 1930s, it was still perceived as a private business, founded in 1927 by a physicians’ group. Because it was started by doctors, CEO Marshall Eskridge told the Light, Feb. 18, 1948, “It has been impossible to educate the public to the idea that it is a nonprofit organization.” M&S wanted to build an additional 100-bed facility but had trouble securing grants, gifts and endowments. The board accepted the Baptists’ offer “in the public interest.” Space for doctors’ offices also was needed for the burgeoning downtown medical complex, and ground was broken in 1963 for the M&S Tower office building. Eight stories tall, the tower held not only doctors’ offices but laboratories, facilities for X-rays and physical therapy, a drugstore and a snack bar. Covered rampways were built to connect it to Baptist Memorial Hospital. The Baptist General Convention of Texas assumed ownership of the former M&S Hospital in 1952, but this part of Baptist Memorial was referred to informally by its former name for many years. historycolumn@yahoo.com | X : @sahistorycolumn | Facebook: SanAntoniohistorycolumn
S Tower Baptist Hospital S.A. Southern Baptist Convention Baptist Church Hebrew Institute Fire Station No. 1 San Antonio Light Baptist General Convention Of Texas Baptist Health System M&Amp J. Riely Gordon John M. Marriott Paul Macnamee Nathan Gerstein Marshall Eskridge Guilbeau Aubrey Christian Moorish Donaldson S Sanantoniohistorycolumn S Hospital San Antonio Congregation Agudas Achim Main Avenue M&Amp S Tower West Commerce Street Texas Quincy Street Huebner Road Guilbeau Street 112 E. Quincy St. YMCA Bexar County Olmos Theater Randolph Field St. Anthony Hotel Jefferson High School St. Cloud 215 Rampart Drive Baptist Memorial Hospital Dallas St. 215 Camden St. Granbury That M&Amp Www.Agudas-Achim.Org Signs Of San Antonio Orthodox Conservative Great Flood Jewish Historycolumn@Yahoo.Com | X Twitter @Sahistorycolumn Facebook Light
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