The first Jewish house of worship in the Pascack Valley was founded in 1923, when 10 families purchased a storefront in downtown Park Ridge.
Since the late 19th century, the site at 32 Park Ave. had been home to Grey’s Furniture and Carpet Store, owned by Frank E. Grey. By the early 1900s, the shop operated out of a long, two-story wooden building emblazoned with the company name. It sold all manner of household goods—furniture, rugs, linoleum, shades, lace curtains, bedding, lamps, stoves, and more—“every household requisite.”
In 1899, Grey’s building was moved closer to Park Avenue. Seven years later, the Park Ridge Local reported, “Frank E. Grey, the Park Ridge furniture dealer, is about to erect a two-story and basement store and dwelling on the site of his present store on Park Avenue. F.O. Mittag will furnish the concrete blocks for his new structure.”
When one door closes, another opens. Grey’s Furniture closed in the early 1920s and the building went up for sale—just as a small group of local Jewish families, who had been holding services in their homes, were seeking a permanent gathering place. Among them were the families of Herman Amster, Barney Blum, William Gottlieb, Louis Henryson, Oscar Judelshon, Abraham Kaplowitz, Jack Siegel, Barney Stein, Irving Sturm, Barnett Weiner, Abraham Wernick, Maurice Wernick, and Elias Wolf.
Blum, who arrived in Park Ridge in 1890, was the borough’s first Jewish resident; Siegel and Weiner were his sons-in-law. Gottlieb was well known for operating Gottlieb’s Department Store in Depot Square. Kaplowitz founded Park Ridge’s first clothing manufacturing firm in 1921, located at Broadway and Perryland Street.
Together, these families purchased the former Grey’s Furniture Store and converted it into the Park Ridge Hebrew Community Center. It hosted religious services for the area’s small but growing Jewish community and became a popular meeting space for local groups of all kinds.
A large room on the second floor, equipped with a piano, overlooked Park Avenue. In the 1930s—when New Yorkers still kept summer homes in Park Ridge—seasonal residents often practiced there, and passersby would pause outside to enjoy the music floating down on warm evenings.
In 1959, the building was redesigned, leaving only the 1906 foundation intact, and renamed Temple Beth Sholom of Pascack Valley.
Temple Beth Sholom remained at 32 Park Ave. until 2022. The building is now home to Arya Samaj of New Jersey, a Vedic temple.
