Community
Winston-Salem, N.C. is a dynamic southern city with a surprisingly active and historically significant Jewish population. With a city population of 250,000, Winston-Salem is the second largest community in the multi-county Triad region, which boasts a population of 1.7 million people. Once known for textiles and tobacco, Winston-Salem is now a thriving center for the arts, medicine, and academia.
The Winston-Salem Jewish community of about 1,500 has had a long presence in the area and has contributed significantly to both the historical foundation and the current business and cultural growth of the area. The Jewish community follows the trajectory of the city’s economy, with immigrant merchants arriving in the 1880s to establish first an Orthodox congregation and then, in 1932, the Reform congregation of Temple Emanuel.
Today, professionals are drawn in growing numbers to the city’s medical centers, as well as to the campuses of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem State University, Salem College (the nation's oldest women's educational institution in continuous operation), and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, the first publicly-supported arts conservatory in the United States.