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In 1920 a frame church was built on the site

while Rev. Armstrong was pastor, and during his time an organ was purchased. The church closed for a while but reopened with a Sunday School in full operation under George A. Hardy, Sr. Sunday School teachers were Ms. Winfield Bell, Maude Bell, Edna Holland, and Mrs. Thomas. A fire, due to faulty wiring, caused the church to again close in 1962 during repairs. Rev. Louis Bowie arrived in 1964 and he arranged for a furnace and improveme nts in the basement to provide kitchen and dining facilities and bathrooms. On May 12, 1979, a large group of friends and neighbors began an improveme nt project and, with whites and blacks working together, a sidewalk was laid, the church was painted and new steps were built. In 1987 an extensive reconstruction program was undertaken with the result that a new church building, almost three times the size of the original structure, was completed and placed in service. The B&O RR donated a bell to the church.

manner, requires a high degree of piety, knowledge, and technical skill, but not rabbinical ordination. SYNAGOG UE BUILT

Charles Barnard Karn, local contractor, built in 1917 the Beth Israel Congregatio n's synagogue, the first in Frederick County, on "A" Street in Brunswick. A May 12, 1959, deed transferred the Synagogue from Himan N. Werntz, surviving trustee for Beth Israel Congregatio n, to Irvin H . Kolker and Nathan Winter, business partners owning Peoples Home Furnishers. Money from the sale of the property was given to charity. When the synagogue was no longer in use for religious purposes, various adaptive uses were made of it. The chronology of these uses may not be exact: Dr. Charles Pruitt opened his first office in Brunswick in this building on the main floor in about 1947. Tiv~ Public Health Clinic was at one time located on the lower level. Dr. Kao also used the building briefly. It served as Red Cross headquarters, and the late dentist Paul Shafer started his practice upstairs. The main floor has been used for storage, and the basement was converted to an apartment.

S - Hester Hardy W-BRH

BETH ISRAEL CONGRE GATION

S - Earl L. Baker, grandson of H. N. Werntz - Amos Kaplon tape

The Jewish community in Brunswick was never large enough to have a weekly service, which requires a minyan (ten or more male Jews, age 13 and over). Even so, fewer than ten could pray together omitting some part of the ritual. Sometimes the local congregatio n would go to Baltimore for religious services at the home of a friend. Sometimes they would travel to (or have guests from) neighboring Jewish communities such as Frederick, Hagerstown , Baltimore, and Charles Town, W.Va., for a regular service or special celebration such as a Bar Mitzvah (the ceremony at which a 13-year old Jewish boy reaches religious adulthood).

W-MMM - Bill Margrabe

BRUNSW ICK CHURCH OF GOD The Brunswick Church of God initially began when a group of Christian believers started meeting in their homes for Bible Study and prayer. As their numbers grew, they held their meetings on the third floor of the Redmen' s Hall, now the Potomac Foundation Building, on Potomac Street. About 1925 land was purchased at 503 Brunswick Street, where first services were held in a tent. Later a tabernacle was built there, and after a fourweek revival, led by Rev. John H. Gonso and Rev. S. A. Kipe, the Church of God was organized on September 27, 1926 with 53 charter members. The Sunday School followed on October 3, 1926 with 50 members. Rev. Kipe laid the cornerstone for the bethel at 3:30 PM on Sunday, November 14, 1926, and the

HIMAN N. WERNTZ

Hiinan N. Werntz was an immigrant from Utena, Lithuania, shortly after 1900. He was not an ordained rabbi, but he was a religious and ethical man, learned in Jewish law. He became the local leader. Mr. Werntz was qualified to prepare Kosher chickens for Brunswick Jews. To become a "sochet," to kill animals and fowl for food in the prescribed

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