These clips of text are provided with the very gracious permission of the Don L. Griswold Trust and the Colorado Historical Society in cooperation with the University Press of Colorado, publishers of the History of Leadville and Lake County, Colorado: From Mountain Solitude to Metropolis by Don L. Griswold and Jean Hervey Griswold, Boulder, 1996.
Griswold
The Hebrew school was established in 1882 and held annual picnics.
In 1883, Isaac Baer became president of the Hebrew Benevolent Association of Leadville and also superintendent of the Hebrew Sabbath school which claimed seventy nine members.
July 20, 1884 was the third annual picnic of the Leadville Hebrew Sunday [Sabbath] School picnic.
1884 was a pivotal year for Leadville's Jewish community with the construction of the Temple Israel building. Isaac was a member of the building committee and he continued in his role as superintendent of the Sabbath School. Enrollment had declined to about forty students with six or seven teachers available, but with the new building an increase was anticipated.
President Monheimer reported in part to Congregation Israel during the dedication weekend for the building (on September 21, 1884),
"The Sabbath school has, during the past nine months, improved, and now that their quarters will be more comfortable, we hope their progress will be accordingly advanced. Much praise is due to its management." (Probably speaking of Isaac Baer.)
Griswold, pages 1124-1125
Further counterbalancing Leadville's reputation for wickedness were the altruistic deeds of individuals and of the numerous charitable and benevolent societies as put on record in the Chronicle (January 18, 1883):
HEBREW BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION OF LEADVILLE
This society was instituted in February, 1882. The membership at the time was fifteen. Its objects are the burial of the dead, the education of their orphans, visiting the sick, and relieving the distressed. Its work is within itself reaching out only to the families of its members. Connected with it, and under its control, are the Hebrew Burial Ground association and the Hebrew Sabbath school. The latter meets in the morning between 10 and 11 o'clock, at Germania hall. It has seventy-nine members, and Isaac Baer is the superintendent. Since its organization the society has dispensed over $400 in charitable work, and has now about $200 in the treasury. Its officers are:
Isaac Baer, president.
David Loeb, vice president.
M. D. Altman, secretary.
Nathan Cohn, treasurer.
Trustees, Sam Mayer, D. Frey and Ben Davies.
This week, application will be made for a charter of incorporation, under which will be included the burial association and the Sabbath school.
