Our Saviour, Washington Ave. at E. 183 St.

To enlarge any photo, please click on the photo.

See pages 472 and 474 for the parish of Our Savior, East 183 Street and Washington Avenue, in 1911. The present church dates from 1914. The rectory address is 2317 Washington Ave., Bronx NY 10458, telephone 718-295-9600. A website is under construction at this link, and it already shows strengths and information. At that website, the top left tab is particularly useful as it lists past and present bulletins, each available as a pdf file.  Look for the current year (as -14) at the end of the date, then select the month and available issues.  
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The bulletin of January 19, 2014, is the four-page sheet distributed this past Sunday at Mass.  It highlights the Scripture of the Day (John's, "Behold the lamb of God .."), Mass and devotional schedules, one tweet from Pope Francis, several "tweets to God," and the parish itinerary of La Virgen de Altagracia, patroness of the Dominican Republic, and La Virgen de Suyapa, patroness of Honduras.
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In some lists, the name "savior" is spelled "saviour." The 2008 Official Catholic Directory shows no school. The priests are Yarumal Missionaries, M.X.Y., a Society of Apostolic Life founded in Colombia in 1927.
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Note that land in The Bronx was already so scarce that the church is within the school. When the above photo was taken in late 2009, the school floors, presumably above the church, were rented to a public school. Five stained glass windows of the church can be seen by enlarging the photo.
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A grandfather of a friend of mine was a young man in this parish when its pastor, the famous Father Francis P. Duffy, became chaplain of "The Fighting 69th" and went off to the Mexican border during the fight with Pancho Villa (1916?). It is said that the young man was with this regiment there.
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 A comment follows:

franchot Richard said...

I plan on coming to NYC in April or May of this year. The memories of Ol continue to flood my mind and I did have some very nice memories of that school. I especially remember Frank Augart, Raymond Maldonado Patricia MCclave, Tony Spano, Robert Ross, David Smiley, Sister Rose Anthony,Sister Norbert, Sister Jerome, Father Carway, Father Sullivan, Mrs Ritter. I look forward to hopefully seeing some of these people again. I still remember some of the words to the school song, wow!!

January 18, 2012 at 10:49 AM

St. Augustine & Our Lady of Victory, Webster Avenue.

The parish of St. Augustine and Our Lady of Victory worships in this church on the east side of Webster Avenue at East 171 Street.  The red building to the left is the rectory, at 1512 Webster Avenue, Bronx NY 10457, telephone 718-583-4044. The informative parish website is linked HERE.
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Repairs to the facade are underway in this May, 2012, photograph.  The Bx41 local bus, providing frequent service from The Hub at East 149th Street, stops near the church at East 171 Street. The Bx41 Select Bus Service stop is further south, at East 170th Street. 

Symbols of the four evangelists surround the rose window: John and Matthew above, Luke and Mark below.

The cornerstone carries the date 1911.

For many comments about Our Lady of Victory parish and school, please see my earlier post.

For photos of St. Augustine's church and school, please see my earlier post.

St. Anthony, Wakefield

To read the important announcement below the schedule, please click on the photo. While other rectories have been closed in the 200-year history of the archdiocese of New York, this is the first such sign I have seen. Note, however, that Mass is celebrated here.

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See pages 478 and 479 for the parish of St. Anthony, Wakefield, founded as an Italian parish in 1919. The present church dates from 1976. The above photos were taken at 4505 Richardson Ave., Bronx NY 10470, a few steps north of East 239th Street. This is west of White Plains Road. The parish office is now a half-mile south, but east of White Plains Road.

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Careful! There are three parishes in The Bronx with St. Anthony of Padua as patron: Mansion St. (Commonwealth Ave.), East 166 St., and this one. Also, this parish on Richardson Avenue shares its pastor or administrator with two other Wakefield parishes, St. Frances of Rome and St. Francis Assisi.
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The elementary school founded by the parish closed in June, 2011. The archdiocesan press release is linked here.


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St. Simon Stock, Valentine Ave. and East 182 St.

See pages 472 and 473 for the founding of the parish of St. Simon Stock in 1919 on the south side of East 182nd Street from Ryer Avenue to Valentine Avenue. The clergy are Carmelite Friars, known in some places as the Whitefriars, distinguishing them from the Blackfriars (Dominicans) and Greyfriars (Franciscans). The rectory address is 2191 Valentine Avenue, Bronx NY 10457, telephone 718-367-1251. The parish website (active in 2022) is linked HERE.

This is a view of the southeast corner of the intersection of Ryer Avenue and East 182 Street. The low building is the basement of the never-completed church, with a cornerstone (below) of 1921. As happened in several Catholic parishes in New York, the urgency of building a school meant that construction efforts turned to the school, which has a cornerstone of 1925. If my memory is correct, in 1950 St. Simon Stock High School had the least expensive monthly tuition in The Bronx, $8 for parishioners of other parishes.

The above photo of St. Simon Stock elementary school looks west. Valentine Avenue goes downhill (south) to the left. West on 182nd Street (at the right edge of the photo) is the lower church.

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it. The parish elementary school is located at 2195 Valentine Avenue. A few years ago, it has about 300 students, one section per grade. However, the school will not reopen in September, 2024, The school website is linked here. Please note that the home page has links both in the center and at the bottom. For me, the forty-two pages of the school handbook is an interesting and clear example of school management.

Above is the rectory at 2191 Valentine Avenue. The school is to the right.

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. 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 Barnabas, Woodlawn

To the left of the steps, one can detect the door to a new elevator connecting street level with both the upper and lower churches. In this photo, Martha Avenue, going north, is at the left, and the next building is in the city of Yonkers. To the right is East 241 Street, Bronx, with the rectory and elementary school in sight.

A click on any photo enlarges it.
Looking west at McLean Avenue and Hyatt Avenue, Yonkers. This is St. Barnabas Chapel, on the street level of the high school.




See pages 478 and 479 for the creation of St. Barnabas Parish, Woodlawn, in 1910. The present church, built in 1911 at the corner of East 241 Street and Martha Avenue, has long been insufficient for all the Sunday Masses. Some Masses are said at a nearby school building on McLean Avenue, Yonkers. The border separating two cities (New York and Yonkers) apparently goes through the parish property. The rectory address is 409 East 241 St., Bronx NY 10470, telephone 718-324-1478.  The parish website, with exceptionally clear layout, is linked here.
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The Sisters of Charity and religious sisters of other congregations have staffed the parish schools (K-12) for many decades. The address of the parish elementary school is 413 East 241 St., Bronx NY 10470. The website of the elementary school is here. An enrollment of 400 was reported to the Official Catholic Directory, but this count seems to include Pre-K.  The website of the girls' high school at 425 East 240th Street is here.

Sacred Heart, Highbridge

The address of Sacred Heart parish is 1253 Shakespeare Ave., Bronx NY 10452, telephone 718-293-2766. As the above photo shows, the church faces the intersection of Woodycrest Avenue and Shakespeare Avenue.  Bus route Bx11 comes past the door.  Clicking on a photo will enlarge it.
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The address of the parish school is 95 East 168th St., Bronx, NY 10452.
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Please note that the church of St. Francis of Assisi, on Shakespeare Avenue less than a mile north, has been merged with Sacred Heart parish.

  

Regarding the above photo, Sacred Heart provides primary education in the newer building in the center, and middle school education in the older building to the left.  As of January, 2015, the school's website is here and its Facebook page is here.

This door at the back of this photo is to a chapel accommodating about 28 faithful. The large church is to the right. The rectory is to the left.


The Highbridge Community Life Center operated from seven buildings in Highbridge, but in 2014 it suffered from woefully inadequate funding and ceased all or most work. For years, the Brothers teaching at the school lived here at 1252 Nelson Avenue.
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See page 292 of Msgr. Shelley's book for the establishment of Sacred Heart parish in 1875. In 1877, the pastor purchased a wooden church from St. Rose of Lima parish, Cannon Street, Manhattan, and had it disassembled and transported to Highbridge. See page 392 for the visitation by coadjutor archbishop Corrigan on August 15, 1883. The present church dates from 1912. See page 294 for photos. See page 475 for a photo of St. Eugene's chapel on Odgen Avenue. See page 585 for Sacred Heart parishioners affected by fires and destruction in the 1970's. The neighborhood has been rebuilt, and it is alive with residents.
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For decades the Sisters of Mercy and, from 1926, the Brothers of the Christian Schools staffed the school.

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A lengthy and excellent history of Highbridge and Sacred Heart parish is linked HERE.

Our Lady of Victory, Webster Avenue, Tremont

On January 29, 2012, the parishioners of Our Lady of Victory welcomed the faithful in procession from St. Augustine's parish, closed that day and merged with Our Lady of Victory. 
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Webster Avenue proceeds north at the left of this 2008 photo. The rectory is the shorter building at the left. Maybe classrooms are above the church, but the parish has no elementary school. Instead, a vigorous CCD program is offered.
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See page 472 for the establishment of the parish of Our Lady of Victory, 1512 Webster Avenue, at East 171 St, a block south of Claremont Parkway, in 1909. See page 474 for a photo of the church, which dates from 1911. For an explanation of Mary's title, "Our Lady of Victory," you may check out this link from the University of Dayton. I have long been puzzled by the question, "Which victory?" The primary victory seems to be Lepanto in 1571, but as the French often use the plural, there is a hint of more than that single battle.
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The rectory address is 1512 Webster Ave., Bronx NY 10457, telephone 718-583-4044.
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To read the comments, please click on "Comments" below.  A 2012 post is linked here.

Bronx annexation

See page 292 for an excellent summary of the stages of annexation of The Bronx (1874, 1895), the formation of Greater New York (1898), and the establishment of Bronx County (1914).

Immaculate Conception, Gun Hill Road, Williamsbridge

See page 231 for the 1902 beginning of Immaculate Conception church, on Gun Hill Road, just east of White Plains Road, in Williamsbridge. The present large church dates from 1925. Do not confuse this parish with the Immaculate Conception parish on East 150th Street. The informative website for the church is here.
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The rectory address is 754 East Gun Hill Road, Bronx NY 10467, telephone 718-653-2200.
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The school address is 760 East Gun Hill Road, and its website is at https://www.schoolofimmaculateconception.org/