The B'nai Abraham Synagogue in Virginia Minnesota, built in 1909-10, was the last remaining synagogue on the Iron Range, and its once-robust congregation dwindled to a handful of members who could no longer maintain the handsome brick structure. Many religious places such as B'nai Abraham slowly become vacant in areas where scant resources are available to continue serving their communities or rekindle new purposes. Their fate often means erasure from the landscape, though not from the memory of those whose lives were shaped by them. There is now an active effort underway to restore and reuse this unique religious, cultural and historical building in order to serve the citizens of Virginia, Minnesota and surrounding areas, and to preserve the history of its Jewish community, of which it was so much a part.
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