Temple Emanu-El (Helena, Montana)

Temple Emanu-El
The former synagogue, in 2012
Religion
Affiliation	Judaism (former)
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue (1891 c. 1930s) State government offices (c. 1930s–1980) Catholic church offices (1981–2021) Jewish community services (since 2022)
Ownership	Montana Jewish Project (since 2022)
Status	Closed (as a synagogue); Repurposed (as offices)
Location
Location	515 North Ewing Street, Helena, Montana
Country	United States
Location in Montana
Geographic coordinates	46°35′24″N 112°1′54″W / 46.59000°N 112.03167°W / 46.59000; -112.03167
Architecture
Architect(s)	Frederick Heinlein Thomas F. Mathias
Type	Synagogue architecture
Style	Romanesque Revival Moorish Revival
Date established	1866 (as a congregation)
Completed	1891
Temple Emanu-El
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area	less than one acre
NRHP reference No.	02000724
Added to NRHP	July 11, 2002
[1]

Temple Emanu-El is a historic former Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Helena, Montana, in the United States. Completed in 1891, the building was the first synagogue to be constructed between St. Paul, Minnesota, and Portland, Oregon.^[2]

The once-thriving Jewish community of Helena declined to the point that by the 1930s they could no longer maintain the building, and it was sold to the State of Montana, which added a second floor, converted it to office space and removed most religious symbolism from the building, though kept the unique stained glass windows.

Eventually, the building fell into disuse by the state other than storage space, and so it was purchased by the Catholic Diocese of Helena, then sold back to the Montana Jewish project which has owned it since 2022 for use as a center for Montana's Jewish community.