The Reher Center For Immigrant Culture and History

The Reher Center For Immigrant Culture and History is a historical site in Kingston, New York that is currently developing into a cultural center and museum primarily focused on immigrant stories of the Hudson Valley. The site’s mission is to “preserve and present stories with universal appeal about immigration, community, work and bread”.The museum and cultural center also deals with preserving and revitalizing the building and bakery that the historic Reher family owned until the early 1980s. The site’s approach to the central issue, recreating and preserving immigrant stories of the Hudson Valley, relies primarily on the use of artifacts,on-site tours, digital exhibits, and a gallery. Their various programs, tours, and exhibitions reflect themes of community,immigration, and work in the Hudson Valley. 

The idea for the Reher Center came in 2002 when current Ulster County historian, Geoffrey Miller, looked into the historic bakery building and saw what he described as a “time capsule.” Miller noticed that the space was pristine or, in other words, had not been touched since former owner Hymie Reher closed his family’s bakery for good in the 1980s. Through discussion with a longtime friend Barbara Blas in 2004, Miller learned that the Reher and Blas families were both past members of Kingston’s now 150 year old Orthodox Synagogue, Agudas Achim. Through the conversations Geoffrey Miller had with Barbara Blas, Hymie Reher became pleased with Miller’s unique vision of the old bakery building being transformed into what is now the Reher Center.  After these discussions Hymie Reher decided to donate the property to the Jewish Federation of Ulster County in the early 2000s. Although the site has been in possession of this organization since roughly 2004, the museum did not hire its first professional staff until 2017 when a detailed plan for the site was expertly developed. The organization hired the interpretive planner and director of the site, Sarah Litvin, to inventory, catalog, preserve, research and digitize the Reher Center’s collection and expand it. Through the staff’s work thus far, the museum has been able to display some captivating digital exhibits such as “Sundays at the Bakery” and “Rising Time” that can both be accessed online through the Reher Center’s website.  Although the Rehers and Blases were both Jewish families in Ulster County, the site does not solely focus on the experiences of these two families or even Jewish people. The Reher Center focuses on a plethora of different groups of people from all over the world that came to America, specifically the Rondout area of upstate New York, for a better life. The site places a primary focus on groups of people that delved into the restaurant industry as their form of employment to support their difficult endeavors into America. However, the Reher Center focuses on people in other facets of life as well, unrelated to the restaurant or food industry. The site emphasizes the importance of preserving everyday stories of people and families of different ethnicities working in all different kinds of occupations. People that lived and worked at 99-101 Broadway in Kingston were not just Jewish bakers and entrepreneurs. Residents and employees did different kinds of garment work and also created a water and soda bottling business.