Though immigration is a currently contested topic in the United States and around the world, it also has a long, established, and detailed history – people have been moving from one country to another practically since countries have existed. It may be a complicated topic, but these complications have not prevented immigration from being one of the enduring touchstones of the modern world. This story can be read in its original format here.

The Lower East Side, traditionally an immigrant, working-class neighborhood with a rich Jewish history, has in recent years experienced rapid gentrification. Despite A LOT of changes, many of the neighborhood's diverse local landmarks have survived into the 21st century.

Anshe Chesed and Rodeph Sholom are respectively the oldest and second oldest surviving synagogue buildings in the city, and some of the oldest in the country. Both were constructed for German Jewish congregations in German architectural styles: Gothic Revival and Rundbogenstil (“round-arch style”), and feature red brick, central staircases and symmetrical façades with recessed central sections and square towers. Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue is the only Greek Synagogue in New York and the only synagogue of Romaniote Jews in the Western Hemisphere. The Eldridge Street Synagogue was America’s first major house of worship built by Eastern European Orthodox Jews. The yellow brick building features Moorish and Romanesque details and rich ornament. At its peak in the early 20th century, the synagogue hosted as many as 1,000 worshippers at services, but was forced to close in the mid-20th century when the area’s Jewish population began to dwindle. In 1986, the Eldridge Street Project funded a large-scale restoration of the building, which was repurposed as a museum. The Former Congregation Anshe Chesed, Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and the Former Eldridge Street Synagogue are all designated New York City Individual Landmarks.

Built in 1887, the Eldridge Street Synagogue was the first grand synagogue built by Eastern European Jews in the United States. Now a museum, it stands as a testament to the 19th century’s great wave of Jewish migration and the Lower East Side’s legendary Jewish community. The synagogue was designed in a Moorish style and built by German Catholic brothers Peter and Francis Herter. It was only the fifth building the Herter brothers had created in New York, and the first non-tenement structure. The structure’s Moorish style is evident in the horseshoe windows on the exterior, interior domes & arches, and dazzling decorative arts in the main sanctuary. The interior also boasts a more recent addition - a stained glass window designed by artist Kiki Smith & architect Deborah Gans, installed in 2010 to replace a historic rose window damaged in the mid-20th century. In the mid-20th century, after decades of declining membership, the congregation abandoned the main sanctuary in favor of the smaller sanctuary (Bes Midrash) on the lower level. Rediscovered in the late 1970's in a state of severe disrepair, the building underwent a meticulous 20 year, $20 million restoration. In 2007 the fully restored space was officially rededicated as the Museum at Eldridge Street. Today the Museum welcomes visitors of all backgrounds, faiths, and interests for tours, concerts, book talks, and other programs. The surrounding neighborhood, now Chinatown, offers a rich foundation for exploring history, immigration, and urban culture. It is open to the public Sunday through Friday.

Upon reaching New York, many Jewish immigrants settled on the Lower East Side, establishing new congregations and social aid societies specific to local communities of the old country. Small synagogues were so common that a stretch of East Broadway was known as “shtiebel row,” after the Yiddish term for a small space for prayer (in contrast to larger synagogues). Over time, Manhattan’s Jewish population shifted to other parts of the city, causing Lower East Side congregations to dwindle. Many synagogues were sold, shuttered, or abandoned, and some have since been demolished. Still, the neighborhood bears many traces of its once-vibrant Jewish life.

The New York Preservation Archive Project is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and celebrating the history of historic preservation in New York City. The Archive Project is devoted to celebrating neglected narratives of New York historic preservation using the archives that hold these stories. This collection includes a selection of historic sites that became flashpoints of the city's preservation movement(s). For more information, visit: www.nypap.org/phd-category/places/

Though Broadway has become synonymous with theater in New York, the Lower East Side has a rich tradition of theatrical productions. To explore this, let's take a look at two of these theaters on the Lower East Side, The Grand Theatre and the Loews Canal Theatre. Both of these theatres are closed today, however, after their final curtain their fates have been entirely disparate.

It’s no secret that New York is one of the Jewish capitals of the world. The city alone is home to 1.1 million Jews. That makes the city the largest Jewish community outside of Israel - larger than Tel Aviv and Jerusalem combined! The city's Jewish communities are not only multiple but diverse – they are Ashkenazic and Sephardic, Hasidic, and secular. The city owes this diversity to various waves of Jewish immigration over time, but did you know that Jewish geography today still in many ways reflects these immigration eras? Indeed, when and from where your Jewish ancestors immigrated may actually inform where you live in NYC today!

Over a 130 years ago, New York’s Lower East Side was home to the world’s largest Jewish community. Between 1881-1924 over 2 million Eastern European Jews called this neighborhood home. And just as generations of immigrants have and continue to do, this community transformed the LES, creating a network of businesses, synagogues, public gathering spaces and more. Today, the LES has gone through many changes, but look closely. Tucked along these bustling blocks, signs of immigrant Jewish life – and hopes – still remain.