The Jewish Contribution to Westward Expansion
The seeds of westward expansion in the United States were sown with the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, which made nearly a million square miles of mostly uncharted territory a part of the fledgling country. Though only the hardiest of souls ventured across the plains during the first half of the 19th century, the Gold Rush of 1849 increased the westward flow of pioneers and the the Homestead Act of 1862 virtually opened the floodgates, as settlers could get up to 160 acres of land for next to nothing simply by staking a claim, living on the property and improving it. Though there were a few Jewish settlers who followed that path, the role of Jews in the expansion and settling of the American West was more in line with what Jewish people had done for centuries—Jewish pioneers tended to be merchants and business owners, as well as public servants and community leaders.
The Earliest Jewish Congregations in the American West
Spurred by the California Gold Rush, many Jewish settlers in the Eastern United States decided to seek their fortunes in the American West. They traveled in covered wagons (commonly called “prairie schooners”), many following the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico, where a significant Jewish settlement was established. By the middle of the 19th century, there were fairly well-established Jewish settlements in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, which quickly came to boast the second-largest Jewish population in the country.
Historical records show that the first Jewish service in San Francisco was held in 1849, not in a synagogue (none had been built yet), but at the tent store of Abraham Franklin, at the corner of Kearny and Jackson Streets. Documents show that the congregation was initially Orthodox and had approximately 30 attendees. Within two years, two congregations—Emanu-El and Sherith Israel—had formed. They briefly joined as a single synagogue, but subsequently split up again.
The Attraction of the American West to Jewish Pioneers
Historians say that most of the Jewish pioneers were merchants or entrepreneurs and that the westward expansion offered two key benefits:
- An opportunity to get in on the “ground floor”—Unlike most of the Eastern United States, there was virtually no competition in the West. While that required more hard work to get initially established, it gave merchants a more robust market once they were up and running
- There were initially fewer biases—In the early days of westward expansion, when there was little to no competition, Jewish merchants faced little discrimination because the other settlers needed what they were selling. However, as the west became more settled, the success of those Jewish merchants caused jealousy, which often led to antisemitism and even legislative action targeted at Jewish merchants.
Examples of Successful Jewish Pioneers in America’s Westward Expansion
Perhaps the most famous of the Jewish immigrants who went west and won their fortune was Levi Strauss. A German immigrant who came to the United States in 1847 at the age of 18, Strauss initially settled in New York City, where he and his two brothers ran a wholesale dry good business. Strauss started as an itinerant peddler for the company, hawking sewing goods, blankets and kettles.
In 1854, Strauss traveled to San Francisco, where he opened a wholesale dry goods business under the name of Levi Strauss & Co. Most of his merchandise came from his brothers in New York, but Strauss also manufactured tents and work pants. In 1871, one of his customers showed him a way to make work pants more durable by holding them together with rivets. The two went into business, obtained a patent on the use of rivets in clothing and went on to create the Levi’s blue jeans line of clothing.
The Goldwasser (Goldwater) family, which initially opened a small department store in San Francisco, but then moved business operations to the Arizona Territory. Patriarch Michael Goldwater (he Anglicized his name after emigrating to London from Poland in 1848) and his three sons—Henry, Baron and Morris—ran the upscale department store. Morris went on to a career in politics, eventually serving as president of the Arizona State Senate. Baron’s son, Barry Morris Goldwater, served as the U.S. Senator from Arizona from 1953 until 1965, ran for President of the United States in 1964 (losing to Lyndon Johnson) and served again in the Senate from 1969 until 1987.
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