Jewish Pre-Columbians
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Howard County was a sleepy, mostly agricultural community. When the editors of the American Jewish Yearbook took a count in 1902, they found only 48 Jews in the county, 25 of whom lived in Ellicott City. The busy rail town and commercial center soon attracted other immigrant Jewish entrepreneurs, but their numbers remained too small to create Jewish institutions. Instead, many joined Baltimore’s Jewish community, 12 miles away.
Isaac Taylor outside his jewelry store, c. 1914. Taylor opened the town’s first furniture store, built the Ellicott Movie Theater, and pursued other business and real estate ventures in Howard County. He and his in-laws, the Caplans, became important town leaders.
Courtesy of Bruce Taylor
Jewish families of Ellicott City
Jews first came to Ellicott City in the late 19th century and began opening small shops. By the 1920s, their stores were fixtures along the city’s Main Street.
Saul Davis, who opened a general store around 1887, may have been the first Jewish merchant in town. He sold his store to Noah and Rachel Caplan, who became Ellicott City’s first long-term resident Jewish family. Two generations of Caplans expanded and restyled their little general store into a successful department store.
Noah and Rachel Caplan outside their store, 1895.
Ellicott City Bicentennial Journal, 1972
Main Street, Ellicott City, c. 1918. Jewish immigrant Hyman Rosenstock opened his clothing store in 1896.
Courtesy of Howard County Historical Society
His son Lee owned the store in 1969 when this ad ran in the Ellicott City Times, Century Edition.
Holzsweig’s United Food Stores ad, Ellicott City Times; Economy Dept. Stores ad, Ellicott City Times, Century Edition, 1969.
Three Jewish families opened stores on Main Street in the 1920s. David Blank launched Blank’s Bargain Store in 1925, Nathan Holzsweig opened United Food Stores in 1926, and Samuel Sachs expanded the clothing store his uncle Abraham Isaacs started in 1908, renaming it Economy Department Store in 1928.
Many downtown Jewish businesses persisted into the late 20th century, Taylor’s and Caplan’s being the most prominent. For decades, Isaac Taylor and Sam Caplan played leadership roles in Howard County business, civic, and philanthropic life.
Ellicott City’s Main Street, circa 1970s.
Courtesy of the Howard County Historical Society
Postwar Housing Developments
During America’s post-World War II housing boom, Howard County’s convenience to D.C. and Baltimore attracted developers who began turning farms into tract housing for young families seeking affordability and room to grow. Perhaps a dozen Jewish families moved into new subdivisions such as Allview Estates, Guilford Downs, and Beaverbrook. Guilford Downs became something of a favorite; by the time it had four or five Jewish families, “people started to call it ‘Little Jerusalem,’” said Jessica Rowe, who moved there as a child.
Suburban-style developments line the east side of Route 29, early 1960s.
Photo by Air Photographics, Inc.
Jews got along well with their neighbors and some participated in Howard County affairs; Seymour Barondes, for example, was president of the Howard County Citizens Association and Henry Lilienfield organized the county’s first zoning commission, among other civic activities. But culturally they found themselves at odds with the county’s rural, conservative character.
And despite the new housing developments, Howard County remained very rural. Speaking about the Scaggsville area where he grew up in the 1950s, Denny Berman said, “Forget about Jews; there just weren’t many people, period.” Judy Kline, of Beaverbrook, remembers “watch[ing] the cattle grazing in what became Bryant Woods.”
The Keller farm, shown c. 1965, would soon become Wilde Lake village. At top right is the subdivision of Beaverbrook. When Milt and Judy Kline arrived there in 1963, recalled Milt, “Ronnie and Marcia Lachman were sitting at the end of our driveway, waiting for another Jewish family to come in.”
Courtesy of Columbia MD Archives, Photograph Collection
Jewish families sometimes felt isolated. As Jessica Rowe recalled, “I grew up in a non-Jewish world. Janie Sachs and I were the only Jewish kids in our elementary school and we would go around to the classes and talk about what Chanukah was.” Denny remembers that the boys at Glenelg High School were rough. “My brother would come home with stories about how he got thrown into trash cans, how he got beaten up. But he had an amazing gift of gab, and I was the scrawny, bookish type. I told my parents, ‘Look what they did to him. They’ll kill me.’” His parents sent him to high school in Silver Spring.
Dasher Farm, razed to make way for the Owen Brown neighborhood. Courtesy of Columbia MD Archives, Photo Collection
Courtesy of Columbia MD Archives, Photograph Collection
Howard County Times, 1964. Courtesy of Jessica Rowe
The adults countered this isolation–for themselves and for their children–by seeking out other Jewish arrivals. In August 1964, several couples gathered at the Lachman home for the first meeting of the Jewish Study Group. With guidance from Baltimore Jewish leaders, the group launched a varied program of lectures, book discussions, and child-centered Jewish holiday celebrations, from community seders to Chanukah and Purim festivals. It was an important precursor to the soon-to-be-formed Howard County Jewish community.
PostWar Jewish Residents (In Progress!)
Jewish Study Group Members:
- George & Hannah Baker
- Martin & Harriet Chaitovitz
- Herbert & Helen Decker
- Ivan & Ruth Goodman
- Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Greenberg
- Henry & Jean Honick
- Milton & Judith Kline
- Ronald & Marcia Lachman
- Henry & Lee Lilienfield
- Jacques & Ruth Pessin
- Jerold & Marcia Skopp
Other Postwar Jewish Residents
- Seymour & Florence Barondes
- Harry & Ellen Berman
- Melvin & Helene Berman
- Jack S. Futterman
- Max & Shirley Jaffee
- Herman S. Preiser
- Max, Lilian & Diana Rappaport
- Siegfried & Edith Rowe
- Melvin & Rhoda Sachs
- Wallace family
We'd like to add more names to this list, along with pre-Columbia-era photos of the already listed families and of those we add.
If you have names or photos for us to share on this site