Bikur Cholim B'nai Israel Synagogue

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. 12 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1922.

From the record

“Bikur Cholim B'nai Israel Synagogue, nicknamed as the Little Blue Shul, is a historic Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Swan Lake, Sullivan County, New York, in the United States.”
Wikipedia article Bikur Cholim B'nai Israel Synagogue, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 79 National Register listings published here for Sullivan County · listed in 1999 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. Old White Lake Turnpike at NY 55, Swan Lake, 12783
When was it listed? January 1999
Category. building
Town. Bethel town
National Register reference number. 98001619 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

109 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 109 fires within 5 miles of Bikur Cholim B'nai Israel Synagogue between 1993 and 2020, burning about 123 acres in total. 14 started naturally. 10 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	47
Debris and open burning	17
Natural	14
Smoking	10
Arson/incendiarism	10
Equipment and vehicle use	5
Recreation and ceremony	3
Misuse of fire by a minor	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
6 September 2007	Natural	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
6 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
3 September 2005	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
28 September 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
26 September 2015	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
22 September 2005	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
19 September 2014	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
14 September 2017	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A

Every fire recorded in Sullivan County

Mines and quarries near this property

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Bikur Cholim B'nai Israel Synagogue: 3 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Mongaup Valley Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Mongaup Valley Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Simenitsky Brothers Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Simenitsky Brothers Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
William Cooper Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
William Cooper Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary

Every working recorded in Sullivan County

Storms near this property

17 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Swan Lake, the town this property stands in, in 17 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 12 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm winds brought down trees and wires on Murphy Road.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm winds brought down multiple trees and wires.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	$6,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down tree across Stanton Corners Rd. Multiple trees around the area were also knocked down.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees on Cohen Road.
May 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees and wires.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	$3,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and wires on Topaz Lane.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	$2,000	Strong thunderstorm winds brought down a tree and wires.
April 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down wires on roadway.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down a tree on Stanton Corners Road.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked tree down onto Stanton Corners Rd.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	-	Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and power lines.
July 2010	Hail	Swan Lake	-	no account filed
July 2010	Hail	Swan Lake	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Swan Lake	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Swan Lake	-	no account filed
August 2007	Hail	Swan Lake	-	no account filed
August 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Swan Lake	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sullivan County

Maps showing this location

12 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1922 USGS White Lake quadrangle1:62500 - 6 printings
1942 USGS White Lake quadrangle1:62500
1943 USGS Monticello quadrangle1:125000
1943 USGS White Lake quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1944 USGS White Lake quadrangle1:62500
1950 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000
1953 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000
1959 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1962 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1965 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1967 USGS White Lake quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1986 USGS Monticello quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Woodstock Music Festival Site	4.5 miles	2017
Manion's General Store	5.1 miles	2004
Ferndale School	5.2 miles	2005
Shelburne Playhouse	5.3 miles	2004
Jewish Community Center of White Sulphur Springs	6.0 miles	1999
Munson Diner	6.3 miles	2006

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 98001619 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Sullivan County	All 79 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.