Mahanoy City borough officials are dealing with an emergency situation after the sudden collapse of a former house of worship, leaving debris on the street and sidewalks and high brick walls a threat to neighboring homes and traffic.

Neighbors said they heard a loud crash when the abandoned Beth Israel Synagogue building unexpectedly tumbled onto Catawissa Street and Mahanoy Avenue about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, with one nearby homeowner catching film of the collapse with her front porch home security system.

The borough has closed off sidewalks and a portion of Catawissa Street until crews can address the situation.

The building was used for decades by the town’s earliest Jewish residents.

According to a published reports, Jewish merchants converged on bustling coal regions in the late 1800s, not to work in mines, but to provide goods to working families. Some opened textile shops where miners’ wives secured employment.

According to the Mahanoy City Quasquicentennial book, the borough’s first Jewish congregation organized in 1888, eventually building the synagogue, or shul, at the corner of Catawissa and Mahanoy Street in 1923.

Mahanoy City’s Jewish population grew to 50 families at its peak and the residents established a Jewish cemetery in the early 1930s.

The Jewish population faded with the decline of coal mining and resulting loss of commerce.

The few remaining congregation members closed the synagogue in 2003 and sold the building’s stained glass windows, after which it remained unoccupied.

According to the Schuylkill Parcel Locator, the building was sold on Nov. 13, 2025, for $10,000.