Zach Harpole is not Jewish, but he has a passion for unique architecture and hopes to help save the historic Temple Israel synagogue on the corner of Poplar and Montgomery in Midtown, which is slated for demolition.
“When it opened in 1916, the first rabbi here was instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement and spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan and the lynching of Ell Parsons in 1917,” said Harpole.
The synagogue is now owned by Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, who is planning to tear down the structure to make way for a 73,000-square-foot sanctuary as part of a $310 million redevelopment plan for its Midtown campus.
Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church has been contacted to ask whether there were any plans to preserve part of the synagogue, but a response has yet to be received.
