Stone Avenue Temple Restoration Project Dedicated in 1910, the original Temple Emanu-El was the first synagogue in the Arizona Territory. Located at 564 Stone Avenue, it may mark where a concentration of Tucson's Jews lived in the early 1900's. In 1949, Temple Emanu-El's congregation moved to a new building. Since then the Stone Avenue Temple passed through the hands of a succession of landlords, served as a pigeon roost, a house of worship for several congregations of varying beliefs, and, lastly, a crash pad for a theatrical group. (Bonnie Henry, Arizona Daily Star, 14 September 1994.) By 1994, the building was in a sad state of disrepair. In 1994, the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Arizona formed the Stone Avenue Temple Project. Led by Beth Alpert-Nakhai and Toby Anne Sidney, the project raised funds to purchase the building and fund a restoration drive. On Sunday, November 6, 1994, the Hispanic-Jewish Dialogue jointly celebrated the designation of the Santa Cruz Catholic Church to the National Register of Historic Places and the Stone Avenue Temple Project's restoration efforts. View the invitiation [22K]