No data have been preserved about the founding of the community.

The first written evidence of a permanent presence of Jews in Ermreuth dates from 1554, possibly after their expulsion from the imperial city of Nuremberg in 1498/99 some families had settled there. Only in the course of the 18th century did the community's population gradually grow, and in 1740 it established its first synagogue. A cemetery had already been established in 1711, which was expanded in 1797 and 1862. In 1834 followed its own school, which had to be closed due to the low number of students in 1916.

The villa at Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse 42 was built in 1924/25 for the silk merchant Richard Merländer (born 1874 in Mülheim/Ruhr). The architect was called Friedrich Kühnen.

Richard Merländer was a bachelor and lived with his staff in the peculiarly designed building. Because of his Jewish origin, he was persecuted by the National Socialist state after 1933. He had to give up his shares in the company, and his middle-class existence was destroyed. He was forced to sell his house. Instead, he had to move into a "Judenhaus" in 1941.