St. Luke, 138th St., Mott Haven

The address of St. Luke's parish address is 623 East 138th St., Bronx NY 10454, telephone number 718-665-6677. The school, which closed in 2020, was at 608 East 139th Street. 
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On August 5, 2015, Catholic New York reported that Fr. Steven Markantonis was appointed pastor of St. Luke's.  That apparently negates the proposed merger with the parish of St. Jerome. Please see this article about the parish being a home for Christians from Ghana.

The church of St. Luke, completed in 1919, stands on the north side of East 138th Street just west of Cypress Avenue. Because the building east of the church has been demolished, one can see the side of the church and the school behind it. Clicking on any photo will enlarge it.
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Father Gerald Ryan served this parish from 1966 until his death 4.11.2013.  An inspirational account of his life appeared as a news item the next day in the New York Times.

The school on East 139th Street is now entered through a passageway from the busier East 138th Street. Please click on this old photo to read the signs.
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See page 293, for the establishment of St Luke parish on East 137 Street, Mott Haven, in 1897, where a Sadlier family stable was converted into the first church. The present church on the north side of East 138 Street was completed in 1919. See also page 587 for a view of the survival of the people of St Luke's parish.
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Since 1910, the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt have staffed this school. For some years, the Brothers of the Sacred Heart taught older boys.

St. Jerome, Alexander Avenue, Mott Haven

The above view shows St. Jerome's church at Alexander Avenue and busy East 138th Street in Mott Haven, The Bronx. Not everyone arrives by town car. Stairs from the Third Avenue station of the #6 subway train are to the right of the photographer.

The above view looks north on Alexander Avenue from East 137th Street. At the next corner is St. Jerome's church. In the foreground is Saint Jerome's elementary school, which the archdiocese closed in 2013. The rectory is between them at 230 Alexander Avenue, Bronx NY 10454, telephone 718-665-5533. It appears that neighboring St. Luke's parish will be staffed from St. Jerome's by August, 2016.  On 4.1.2015, Archbishop Dolan appointed Fr. Javier Correa-Llano, I.V.E, pastor of St. Jerome's.  A native or Argentina, he was ordained in 2001.

On the 138th Street side of the church is this shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of Mexico. On a weekday afternoon, I found the church locked.

In Msgr. Shelley's book, please see page 230 for a reference to Italians at St Jerome parish in 1893. On pages 292 and 293, there is a more lengthy description of the establishment of St Jerome parish in 1869 under Father John J. Hughes. By 1871, he constructed a school on Alexander Avenue at East 137 Street. The present church on the southeast corner of Alexander Avenue and East 138 Street dates from 1900. For many years, Ursuline Sisters staffed the school. For decades after 1928, the Brothers of the Christian Schools taught the older boys. Page 558 contrasts Mass attendance in 1950 (6,100) and 1975 (795). Page 586 describes the parish in difficult times. See also page 606 for recent restoration of the church.

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About 2007, Archbishop Egan entrusted this parish to the care of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, a congregation founded in Argentina about twenty-five years ago. They, "the IVE fathers," also staff St. Thomas Aquinas parish, Crotona Parkway, and St. Michael parish in East New York, Brooklyn.
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An excellent professional photographer has posted about 200 of her photos of St. Jerome's on Flickr, as linked here. Her photo of the Eye is here. Another photographer offers an interior shot from the altar steps to the main doors, linked here.
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The AIA Guide and other places give the church architect as the firm Delhi & Howard, but the spelling is wrong. Please see this brief biography of Arne Dehli. Dehli, from Norway, designed quite a few impressive buildings in metropolitan New York.

St Mary Protectress, Washington Ave., Tremont

St. Mary Protectress church stands on the west side of Washington Avenue about two blocks south of the Cross-Bronx Expressway.


See page 254 for the 1943 creation of the Ukrainian parish of St Mary Protectress, 1745 Washington Avenue, Bronx NY 10457, telephone 718-731-9392. This is an Eastern Rite parish in the jurisdiction of the Eparchy of Stamford, Connecticut. Whether the Sunday Divine Liturgy is celebrated in modern Ukrainian or Old Slavonic, I don't know. It appears that the pastor is a Basilian monk. Yes, this is a Catholic parish.
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Note that the English name of the parish is a bit different from the Ukrainian name, which I take to be Holy Protectress. This link gives some of the history of the title Protectress.

St. Joseph, Bathgate Ave., Tremont

St. Joseph's school remains open, but as of August 1, 2015, St. Joseph's church on Bathgate Avenue is closed, and the parish is merged with that of St. Simon Stock.  The photos below were taken in 2009.  For a photo of the church interior and some other parish photos, please click on this link.  Then scroll down that page. (As of 2022, the church may have been demolished. I don't know for certain. One of the windows may go to the parish in Bellport, Long Island.)

Above is a view south on Bathgate Avenue. Clicking on any photo will enlarge it.


The school is on the east side of Bathgate Avenue. The cornerstone is dated 1922. The church cornerstone is dated 1899.


See page 216 for the influx of Germans into Melrose, Morrisania, and Tremont, and the creation of the parish of St Joseph in Tremont in 1873. See page 218 for prints and photos. See page 292 for its quickly becoming a territorial parish. Page 392 shows St Joseph's parish on the list of coadjutor archbishop Corrigan's visitations in August, 1883. Page 222 refers to an Irish-American pastor at St. Joseph's in 1895. See page 412 for a photo of a Holy Name Communion Breakfast in 1938. The present church was built in 1902 on Bathgate Avenue, just north of East Tremont Avenue and a block west of Third Avenue.
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The address of the parish school was 1946 Bathgate Ave., across from the church. The school closed in 2019. For years, the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill staffed the school and lived on the top floor.
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The neighborhood bustles with residents, shoppers, and workers in many small enterprises. Quite a few smaller churches line the streets.
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In this 1969 photo of the Third Avenue El, one can see both the church and the school. The school has a white-painted wall facing east and a satellite dish for the archdiocesan television network. The church stone is afflicted with the grime from many Bronx furnaces. In fact, one cloud of soot can be seen in the distance.

St. Gabriel, Arlington Ave. and West 235 St., Riverdale

Above is the view from Arlington Avenue. The church entrance is seen ahead. Access to this door is from three directions: a short driveway from West 235 Street, a often-closed gate on Netherland Avenue, and the stairway from Arlington Avenue. The stairway is to the right of the photographer's position.

Until the school was closed, this sign was at the southwest corner of Netherland Avenue and West 235th Street. For an article in America magazine in September, 2023, please see this link.

The above view looks north. Inside this center door is a foyer, a few steps down, and then the east-west main section of the church. The altar is in the corner where the two wings meet. It appears that folding doors allow an expansion of church seating in the north-south wing (at the right side of this photo). The school is located upstairs.
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See pages 487 and 513 for St. Gabriel parish at Arlington Avenue and West 235 Street, Riverdale. The parish was created in 1939, and the combined church and school were completed in 1941. The address is 3250 Arlington Ave., Bronx NY 10463, telephone 718-548-4470. The parish website here includes both church and school. 
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An excellent bird's-eye view of the school appears on Flickr here.



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Aquinas High School, East 182 St.

Aquinas High School, a leading Catholic high School for girls, is located at 685 East 182nd Street, Bronx NY 10457, where both Belmont Avenue and Grote Street meet 182nd Street. The telephone is718-367-2113. The school website is linked here.


Aquinas High School is not a parish or archdiocesan high school. Rather, as with numerous Catholic high schools and academies, it was established by a congregation of teaching Sisters, the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill. They and lay teachers have staffed the school for many decades.


The above photos are taken from the east side of the intersection, where the parish church of St. Martin of Tours is located.


The Metropolitan Transit Authority inherited many of its bus routes from previous owners who had arranged with some high schools to provide direct bus service at the student fare, rather than have students change from bus-to-bus. Perhaps because of the different requirements for school buses, in recent years these routes have become marked as public routes. They have never used yellow buses. This bus stop sign shows that at dismissal students may board a Bx12 bus which travels Fordham Road to Sedgwick Avenue.


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