View of mausoleum row, Temple Ohabei Shalom Cemetery, East Boston.

Chapel and gate of Temple Ohabei Shalom Cemetery on Wordsworth Street, East Boston. In 1844, the City Council granted Boston's first synagogue permission to purchase this then-remote East Boston lot as a burying place. It was the first legally established Jewish cemetery in the state. Prior to this, Boston Jews were sent to Rhode Island, the West Indies, or Europe for burial in sacred ground. Temple Ohabei Shalom, formed in 1842 by German Jews from Boston's Fort Hill, remained downtown. From 1880, the port of East Boston served as gateway to its own large Jewish population, which often used these grounds as a park. The cemetery, still active, marks Boston's historic Jewish presence.

Plaque dedicated on the Centennial of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies in 1995 reads: In 1842, the first formal act of the Boston Jewish community was to buy and consecrate this land as a Jewish cemetery. Temple Ohabei Shalom, Boston's first synagogue, was established the following year.