35,000 of whom 300 were Jewish. Mikveh Israel counted among its members revolutionary patriots including Jonas Phillips, the Gratz family, and Haym Solomon who financed the war. When Washington was elected president of the United States the Congregation Mickvé Israel, together with the congregations of New York, Charleston, and Richmond, sent a congratulatory address, to which Washington replied (1790). After Congregation Shearith Israel recalled the Rev. Gershom Mendez Seixas to New York, Congregation Mickvé Israel elected the Rev. Jacob Raphael Cohen in his stead. The latter had officiated as Chazzan of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Montreal and had served in a like capacity in New York during the British occupation. He ministered to the Congregation Mickvé Israel until his death in Sept., 1811. As a result of the departure of its members, in 1788 the congregation encountered financial difficulties. A subscription list was started to meet the existing debts, and among those who contributed to it were Benjamin Franklin and David Rittenhouse. From this time on the congregation was ceaseless in its religious and charitable activities, and when Isaac Leeser's incumbency began, in 1829, it was, perhaps, the best-known synagogue in the United States. In 1815 Emanuel Nunes Carvalho was elected minister and continued in that capacity until his death in 1817; he was succeeded in 1824 by Abraham Israel Keys. Mikveh Israel erected its first building in 1782 on Cherry Alley, as well as a parsonage, school, mikvah, and oven for Matza baking for Passover. A commemorative marker stands at that place. When the 1782 building became inadequate, the synagogue built a larger synagogue on the same designed by William Strickland, a leading architect. Prior to the Civil War (1861-1865) as the Jewish population grew and prospered, an elegant building was constructed on 7th Street, north of Arch designed by John McArthur Jr. (later, architect of City Hall of Philadelphia). Many Jews moved to the area between Broad and 16th Streets, north of Girard Avenue. A new building was constructed at Broad and York Streets in 1909, flanked by Gratz and Dropsie Colleges. Samuel Elkin and Henry G. Freeman Jr. donated $100,000; $40,500 for the site, $59,000 for the building in memory of Abraham and Eve Elkin. Gratz College, a private, coeducational Jewish college in Melrose Park, Pennsylvania and traces its origins to 1856 when banker, philanthropist and communal leader Hyman Gratz, and the Hebrew Education Society