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Temple Beth-El, the oldest Jewish congregation in San Antonio, was founded in 1874. On May 31 of that year, 44 Subscribers officially met at Odd Fellows Hall to approve by-laws, elect officers and establish a building committee. The preamble to the 25 articles of the by-laws read:
We the Subscribers, for the purpose of perpetuating the cause of Judaism in all its essential purity, and that we may cherish and promote its great and fundamental principle–the rock upon which our undying faith is founded–the belief in, and the worship of one God, have established this Congregation under the name and style of the Congregation "Beth-El" and for our government have adopted these By-Laws.
These 44 gentlemen were prominent members of the city's Jewish population, and most of them had already been residents for some time. They were largely part of a wave of immigration from Germany dating from the early 1850s and 60s, some arriving directly and others having first settled in other American cities.
| Henry L. Berg | Samuel Mayer |
| Louis S. Berg | L.M. Mayer |
| Solomon Deutsch | A. Michel |
| A. B. Frank | Henry Michel |
| H. Frank | B. Moke |
| Lazarus Frank | E. Moke |
| S. Frank | Samuel Moritz |
| Simon Frank | A. Morris |
| Max Goldfrank | M. Morrison |
| Henry Halff | B. Oppenheimer |
| Alex Halff | Daniel Oppenheimer |
| Solomon Halff | Moses Oppenheimer |
| M. Haas | T.H. Philipson |
| Adam Joseph | Benedict Schwartz |
| Achille Kahn | A. Sichel |
| A. J. Kern | Sali Sulnon |
| Alex Koenigheim | Philip Sulzbacher |
| Samuel Koenigheim | Joseph Treuer |
| L. Mandelbaum | Leo Veith |
| Daniel Marx | A. Wolff |
| Ferdinand Mayer | A. Zork |
| Max Mayer | Louis Zork |