Elmendorf Reformed Church
171 East 121st Street | also 169 East 121st Street | East Harlem | built 1900
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1660
Dutch colonists organize Harlem's first church congregation
Dutch settlers organized the Low Dutch Reformed Church of Harlem in 1660, the neighborhood's first congregation, and built its first sanctuary five years later at First Avenue and 127th Street. The congregation set aside a nearby quarter-acre burial ground that became known as the "Negro Burying Ground." The congregation that worships today at 171 East 121st Street as Elmendorf Reformed Church descends directly from that 1660 body.
Source: Internet Archive
- 1894
Architect Joseph Ireland designs a Classical Revival parish house
Under the Reverend Joachim Elmendorf, the congregation built a two-story Classical Revival parish house at 171 East 121st Street in 1893-94, designed by architect Joseph Ireland on an L-shaped plan that filled most of its 53-by-120-foot lot. When the congregation's older nearby church building was demolished around 1910, this parish house became its main sanctuary, later known as Elmendorf Chapel and then Elmendorf Reformed Church.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2008
Construction crews uncover the congregation's colonial burial ground
In 2008, work at the MTA's 126th Street bus depot uncovered remains of the colonial-era burial ground the Harlem Dutch church had set aside for its African congregants in the 17th century. The discovery renewed attention to a site whose markers had vanished under later development. The Harlem African Burial Ground Task Force later organized to help the congregation restore and memorialize the ground.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Elmendorf Reformed ChurchWikipedia
- Elmendorf Reformed ChurchPlace Matters
- The colonial-era burial ground underneath an MTA bus depot in East HarlemEphemeral New York
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