Russell Street, the historic hub of Orangeburg's commercial life, was home to Jewish merchants for more than 160 years. German Jews began settling in Orangeburg in the 1830s, followed in the next century by Eastern European Jews. Deopold Louis was likely the town's first Jewish merchant. Theodore Kohn, known as the father of Orangeburg's graded schools, co-founded Ezekial & Kohn in 1868. By the mid-1900s, as many as 15 downtown stores were Jewish owned, and in 1996 Barshay & Marcus was the last to close. Temple Sinai, built in 1955 on Ellis Avenue, became the center of religious life for Jews in Orangeburg and surrounding towns. In the second half of the 20th century, as in many small towns in South Carolina, descendants of Jewish merchants moved to larger cities in the state and beyond. Noted past residents include Robert F. Furchgott, a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, and Evelyn Marcus, the first woman from Orangeburg County admitted to the South Carolina Bar.