Zion Episcopal Church

243-16 44th Avenue | also 243-01 Northern Boulevard, 243-20 Church Street | Douglaston | 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. 1829

    Wynant Van Zandt gives land and the first Zion Church goes up on the Douglaston hilltop

    Wynant Van Zandt donated the land for a church in what was then called Little Neck, and the cornerstone of the first Zion Church was laid in 1829. That earlier building opened for worship in 1830, the same year the congregation began the Strawberry Festival it has held annually ever since. The original church stood until a fire in 1924.

    “Wynant Van Zandt donated land for the building of a church in what was then known as Little Neck, New York, and the cornerstone was laid in 1829.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1869

    A captured bandit leads police to his hidden loot in Zion Church's belfry

    In the late 1860s bandits preyed on towns along Long Island's north shore. When gang leader Jefferson Knight, once coachman to the rector, the Rev. Henry Beare, was caught in 1869, he took the authorities to his stash, which turned out to be in the belfry of the original Zion Church, the building that burned in 1924.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1925

    December

    Zion rebuilds its church after a fire and reopens in time for Christmas

    A fire in 1924 destroyed the 1820s church, and the congregation rebuilt in time to hold its Christmas service in 1925. The new church was designed by Aubrey B. Grantham. It, the churchyard cemetery and the 1890 rectory count as contributing buildings and sites in the Douglaston Hill Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

    “A fire destroyed the original church building in 1924, and Zion was rebuilt and was ready for the Christmas 1925 service.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1931

    Matinecoc remains disturbed by the Northern Boulevard widening are reburied in Zion's churchyard

    Widening and straightening Northern Boulevard, Route 25A, in the early 1930s disturbed many Matinecoc Indian graves. In 1931 the remains were laid to rest again in the Zion churchyard under a monument of a tree growing out of a split boulder, inscribed "Here rest the last of the Matinecoc."

    “The remains were re-buried in the churchyard of Zion Church in 1931 beneath a monument consisting of a tree growing between a large boulder…”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 3 buildings with stories in Douglaston