TRANSCRIPT

Interview of Eddie Duke by Marlene Gamble July, 2003

When the first synagogue was built actually, the design of the first synagogue was pretty well up to Mr. Scott, Mr. Alter Scott, and he built the synagogue. He was used to building little houses and places that he rented in Kirkland Lake and he had carpenters and so forth who were used to working for him, but the plans were his. And so the first synagogue actually had, it was a long narrow room, about twenty feet by thirty feet and at one end of it there was a balcony. You had to climb up, there were stairs, like, it was a high ceiling, and there was a balcony, and there was a room up there for probably about fifteen or twenty women to sit, and that was full and uh, it lasted for quite a long time. Now Mr. Scott I think designed that first synagogue and modeled it more or less after the synagogue he knew in Russia. Joe Scott, his son, actually acted as more or less his foreman, you know and uh, and sort of got people to, you know, the carpenters who built the place were not Jewish. There was only one Jewish carpenter in town at that time. But, but they built this place according to the specifications.