 The congregation Kehilath Anshe Maarav (Congregation of the Men of the West) was founded on November 3, 1847 at the wholesale dry-goods store of Levi Rosenfeld and Jacob Rosenberg located at 155 Lake Street by twenty men, many of whom hailed from Bavaria.At the time, this section of the Chicago Loop was the center of the small Chicago Jewish community.The newly founded congregation was first housed above Rosenfeld and Rosenberg's store at Lake and Wells street.