More Than a Synagogue: Celebrating 143 Years of Community and Continuity at Temple Aaron
143 years after Temple Aaron’s congregants first gathered in homes and storefronts in 1883, it is preparing to celebrate its first-ever Founder's Day Weekend with four days of worship services, historical presentations, tours, music and community gatherings from July 23-26 in Trinidad, Colorado.
By Austin Curtis
Nearly a century and a half ago, Jewish merchants and traders who settled along the Santa Fe Trail laid the first bricks for what would become Temple Aaron — a synagogue that has overlooked Trinidad for generations.
Perched atop a hill with its red-brick exterior, stained-glass windows and towering sanctuary, the building has become far more than a place of worship. It stands as one of the oldest continually operating synagogues in the Mountain West and a lasting symbol of the Jewish pioneers who helped shape southern Colorado.
Now, 143 years after congregants first gathered in homes and storefronts in 1883, it is preparing to celebrate its first-ever Founder's Day with four days of worship services, historical presentations, tours, music and community gatherings from July 23-26. (Schedule of events below).
The celebration also coincides with Colorado’s sesquicentennial, back when Ulysses S. Grant was U.S. president, linking nearly all of the state’s history with one congregation’s enduring story.
More than a Building
But beyond the anniversary lies a bigger question. How has Temple Aaron endured for nearly a century and a half while so many historic congregations across the American West disappeared?
Its story begins with migration.
As Trinidad grew into a commercial and railroad hub connecting Colorado and New Mexico, Jewish families arrived seeking opportunity. Through chain migration, relatives followed relatives, families settled, businesses were established, children were raised, and eventually Temple Aaron was founded in 1883.
For historian Kim Grant, who has spent nearly eight years with the congregation, Temple Aaron's significance extends well beyond Trinidad. Its story reflects the broader history of Jewish migration throughout the Southwest.
“It tells the story of Jewish migration into the American Southwest and kind of through the borderlands of Colorado, New Mexico and Mexico,” Grant said. “It’s a classic story of chain migration — one guy would come through and then an uncle or a nephew would follow and cousins and pretty soon families would get established.”
Temple Aaron’s history, he said, mirrors the broader story of Jewish settlement throughout the Southwest.
The Question of 143 Years
Yet dozens of similar communities that began the same way eventually faded.
Why?
Like countless small-town Jewish communities, Trinidad's Jewish population peaked around the 1920s before gradually declining as families moved to larger cities. Temple Aaron, however, remained. Grant attributes that longevity to something larger than the congregation itself.
Rather than remaining separate from the city, Jewish residents became woven into its civic fabric. Members of the Jewish community served as mayors, state legislators, and school board members. They also helped establish Trinidad State Junior College and became deeply involved in civic life.
“They were this unique group of people, but they were also very integrated into the community and very much accepted as part of the community,” Grant said. “That legacy endured and has been respected.”
A Weekend Worth Celebrating
That same sense of community will be on display throughout Founder’s Day weekend.
The celebration commemorates July 23, 1883 — the day the congregation was established — and honors the founders and trailblazers who created what would eventually become Temple Aaron six years later, a Jewish spiritual home and gathering place that remains open to all.
Events include a proclamation from the City of Trinidad recognizing Temple Aaron Founder’s Day, Shabbat services led by Rabbi Joe Black, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanuel in Denver, the unveiling of the temple’s historic archive, historical presentations, cemetery tours, live music and opportunities for visitors to experience a Colorado National Historic Landmark firsthand.
For Grant, preserving Temple Aaron isn’t simply about maintaining an old building. It’s about ensuring future generations understand how communities were built while continuing to give those places purpose.
“Historic preservation is important for sharing with future generations where we came from, how we got there, how these communities got built,” he said. “But it's also about building a future with historic places so that they're not just erased from the landscape.”
When the Building Speaks
For three-year Temple Aaron board member A.C. Cutler, introducing first-time visitors to the synagogue has become one of the most rewarding parts of his time there. After leading guests through the lower level, he quietly opens the sanctuary doors. Then he lets the building speak for itself.
“I can see the emotion and how moved guests are by the beauty of the structure, the sanctity, and the history of it all combining,” he said. “I'm always excited by that. I'm always moved by that.”
Visitors step into a sanctuary filled with glowing stained-glass windows, historic woodwork, and an expansive pipe organ that has watched over generations of worshippers.
"I let the building do the talking,” Cutler said.
More Than History
Founder’s Day, however, is about much more than architecture. It’s about filling the sanctuary once again with worshippers, neighbors and first-time visitors. At its heart, Founder’s Day is about one word: community!
Cutler hopes longtime members, former congregants, first-time visitors and neighbors alike will gather under one roof, reflecting the role Temple Aaron has played in Trinidad for generations.
“I'm excited to have the temple full of life — people visiting, those with history with the temple, people who maybe have never been there,” he said. “Folks have always wanted to come in and see it.”
That sense of openness and hospitality has helped define Temple Aaron since its founding. The tradition of civic engagement and interfaith relationships stretches back generations, a distinctive quality that makes the congregation even more special.
Yet, in 2016, the temple was almost lost. Caretakers had run out of money to keep the doors open, and a for-sale sign went up on the front lawn. A story about it on Colorado Public Radio reached Denver, and a small group traveled to Trinidad to help. Their effort led to a new nonprofit board in 2017, and a wave of momentum that has renewed services, events and community life.
Building for the Future
For Grant, that spirit is what matters most as Temple Aaron looks toward its next chapter. “I think it's a symbol of the importance of maintaining Jewish continuity and not just telling the story of what happened in the past, but building for the future,” he said.
Rabbi Joe Black, who will lead worship services and perform music during the weekend celebration, believes the congregation’s founders understood that vision from the beginning.
“The pioneers who first settled in this part of Colorado were visionaries who saw unlimited potential in the growth of and welcoming nature of the mountain Southwest,” Rabbi Black said. “They built a beautiful building as a testament to their commitment to and belief in the relationship between the Jewish community and the state of Colorado.”
Rabbi Black remains well known in New Mexico as Rabbi of Congregation Albert in Albuquerque from 1996 to 2010, before that serving Temple Israel in Minneapolis. He served as Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Denver from 2010 to 2025 and is now Rabbi Emeritus there.
Nearly one hundred forty-three years after a small group of Jewish families first gathered in Trinidad, Temple Aaron continues to do exactly what its founders envisioned — serving not only as a synagogue, but as a cornerstone of the community whose story is still being written.
To learn more about this event, check out Temple Aaron’s website.
FOUNDERS DAY WEEKEND SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Austin Curtis, a student at Cornell University majoring in American Studies with a minor in International Relations, this summer is a feature writer for the NM Jewish Journal and a freelance sports writer for the Albuquerque Journal.
A generous gift from the David Specter Shalom House Board has enabled the New Mexico Jewish Journal to bring on student writers and expand its coverage of community events.
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