The congregation was formed on March 27, 1874, through the merger of Congregation Anshe Chesed with Temple Adath Jeshurun.
Kaufmann Kohler succeeded his father-in-law Einhorn as rabbi in 1879, serving there until he became president of Hebrew Union College in 1903.
Rudolph Grossman was associate rabbi of Temple Beth-El from 1889 to 1896.
Samuel Schulman was elected associate rabbi in 1901, and in 1903 he succeeded Kohler as rabbi. He continued to serve as its rabbi until its merger in 1927. The
Romanesque Revival building with Byzantine and Moorish influences, designed by Brunner & Tryon, was dedicated on September 18, 1891. Completed with Indiana
limestone, and interior fittings using Mexican
onyx, gold,
Numidian marble, and a copper-domed roof, the land and building costs amounted to $700,000 in 1891 . An organ by Odell Company was installed in the synagogue in 1890; and it was replaced by a new organ by
M. P. Möller, installed in 1924 at the front of the synagogue above the
bimah, obscured from public view. In 1927 the Temple Beth-El congregation merged with
Congregation Emanu-El. The congregation had barely used the synagogue since
Yom Kippur in 1929, and was subsequently demolished in 1947. == Gallery ==