Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church (former First German Presbyterian Church)

179-09 Jamaica Avenue | Jamaica | built 1931

Open on the map4 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1900

    Jamaica's German Presbyterians build a Gothic Revival church with an 80-foot bell tower

    Built in 1900 for the First German Presbyterian Church of Jamaica, the church mixes Late Gothic Revival with the Shingle Style under a steep slate gable roof, with twelve large pointed-arch windows and an 80-foot square bell tower. Its first pastor, the Reverend Christopher Bauer, preached in German in the morning for older members and in English in the evening for the American-born young. Forty members joined to build it and its manse, and by 1906 there were 86 parishioners.

    “It features twelve large pointed arched windows and an 80-foot-tall (24 m), square bell tower.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1910

    The Reverend Ferdinand O. Zesch collapses mid-sermon and dies in the pulpit

    During a Sunday evening service in 1910, the 58-year-old pastor Ferdinand O. Zesch stopped in the middle of his sermon and clutched the lectern. Women in the pews began crying as men ran forward and laid him on cushions while a doctor was called, but he died of heart disease before the doctor came. The New York Times and the New York Observer both reported his death.

    “Rev. Ferdinand O. Zesch, 58, passed while giving the sermon at the 1st German Presbyterian…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1914

    The German congregation renames itself Hillside Presbyterian Church of Queens

    In 1914 the First German Presbyterian congregation took the name Hillside Presbyterian Church of Queens. In 1962 it merged with the Jamaica Hillside Presbyterian Church, and the merged congregation later joined the original English-speaking church as the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, which has used that name since 1969.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1984

    Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church takes over the building and restores its sanctuary

    Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church took over the former German Presbyterian church in 1984. The congregation restored the stained glass windows, pews, sanctuary and lectern, and replaced the organ with electronic instruments. It holds services and Sunday school in English and runs a food bank.

    “In 1984 Bethesda took over the building and proceeded to restore the stained glass windows and pews.”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 24 buildings with stories in Jamaica