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500 Block of Main Street

Site of Trager Family Residence

Russian immigrant Abraham Isaac Trager (1809-1913) moved to Columbia around 1861, where he was a patriarch of the Jewish community for almost forty years. He established a farm at this location, where he grew plants used during religious holidays and provided hospitality to fellow Jews and travelers of all faiths. Trager regularly officiated Jewish weddings and bar mitzvahs, the ceremony marking a 13-year-old Jewish boy's acceptance of religious responsibility. A founder of the Tree of Life Congregation, he helped raise funds to erect the first synagogue built in Columbia since before the Civil War. Trager died in 1913 at age 104. 

  • Trager

    Abraham Trager. Reprinted fromThe Tree of Life: Fifty Years of Congregational Life at the Tree of Life Synagogue, Columbia, S.C by Helen Kohn Hennig.

  • The state September 23, 1892

    Announcement for the Jewish New Year celebrations, with services led by Abraham Trager and Philip Epstin (1836-1921), who would later become the first president of the Tree of Life Congregation. Reprinted from The State, September 23, 1892.

33.9918236, -81.0293373

NTHP Preservation Award Winner
Historic Columbia

© 2025 Historic Columbia

Administrative Offices
1601 Richland Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Tours
All historic house and garden tours start at the Gift Shop at Robert Mills.
1616 Blanding Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Questions? Call (803) 252-7742.

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