Since 1994 known as Vilna Shul/Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture, this building was founded and built in 1919 by an Orthodox Jewish congregation of former residents of Vilnius, Lithuania and originally called “Anshei Vilner.” The group organized themselves in 1893, hired Max Kalman, the only Jewish architect in Boston, and actively used the building as a synagogue through the 1970s. The Beacon Hill Civic Association worked to save the building from urban renewal since it stands on the North Slope of Beacon Hill. Today Vilna Shul is a historic building housing a cultural center, community center, and living museum.
The Antin family immigrated to Boston from the Russian Pale in 1894. Mary Antin’s (1881-1949) name is listed on the founding plaque of the Vilna Shul as an attendant at the dedication. She penned her memoir about her family’s experience entitled, The Promised Land. It remains the quintessential work about 19th century Eastern-European immigration. Since she had little schooling available to her in Russia, Antin wrote: “the essence of American opportunity: the treasure that no thief could touch, not even misfortune or poverty… the freedom of the schools of Boston!”
