The Sabes JCC originally had its foundation in the North Side of Minneapolis, where residents wanted to see the formation of a “properly supervised social center for Minneapolis’ rapidly growing Jewish community” in the years following the end of World War I. Before that time, community services and social functions were organized at a variety of local sites, including the Talmud Torah, the Neighborhood House that served the Romanian Jewish Community, Pillsbury House, Wells Memorial South Side Neighborhood House, and the North East Neighborhood House.

But the increasing demands of a growing community were more than existing resources could comfortably handle. By 1922, Talmud Torah’s director wrote, “ I regret the necessity of having to call the community’s attention to the lack of space in which the Social Service Department has to carry on its activities. It is time to find the ways and means to rent a new building, or to enlarge this one.”

In 1924, the 15,000 Jewish immigrants in North Minneapolis had a building to call their own: a community center at 909 Elwood Avenue. The building was named for Emanuel Cohen, a Minneapolis lawyer and community leader born in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Emanuel Cohen arrived in Minneapolis in the early 1880’s and began a lifetime of local community service and a distinguished legal career. He was the first Jewish member of the Minneapolis Club. His wife, Nina, was the founder of the Minneapolis chapter of National Council of Jewish Women. And he was the author of the bill that outlawed restrictive covenants in Minnesota real estate transactions (which, at the the time the legislature enacted the bill, were used largely against Jews).

But one of his greatest legacies was his will. Childless and a widower when he died in 1920, Emanuel Cohen left the bulk of his estate to the Associated Jewish Charities for the creation of a center for Jewish youth. A grateful community named its new neighborhood house for its most generous, and farsighted, donor.

The Emanuel Cohen Center flourished with activities for people of all ages, sponsoring a variety of athletic and social programs along with a healthy dose of much-needed social and community services. For example, the first nursery school was started in 1930 (the fees were 60 cents a week).

Eventually, the building at 909 Elwood was razed and the Emanuel Cohen Center moved next door to more spacious quarters at 915 Elwood Avenue. But the community and the neighborhood were changing. And with the return of veterans from World War II, the old North Side community bloc began to expand into the suburbs and south Minneapolis.

In 1963, the building was sold to the Minnesota Association for Retarded Children (ARC), and the Center took up temporary residences, first at Meadowbrook School and then on Republic Avenue. In 1964, the community purchased the 16-acre site where Minneapolis, St. Louis Park and Golden Valley meet.

A massive community fund drive, and 2.5 million dollars later, and the new Jewish Community Center took shape. Its dedication ceremony in 1969 was attended by local, state, and national leaders, and was presided over by Hubert H. Humphrey.

And when the shining new facility opened its doors, it did so to the acclaim and pride of the entire community.

This year, the Sabes JCC celebrated the Grand Opening of a fully renovated center. After 18 months and $17.5 million worth of work, the completely remodeled center now features over 195,000 square feet of usable space, including indoor and outdoor pools, an art gallery, auditorium and theatre, state-of-the-art fitness center and locker rooms, and a variety of meeting rooms and activity spaces.

The major departments of today’s JCC reflect the same commitment to our community that we saw from the earliest days of the Emanuel Cohen Center. Today, our major services and programs are: