Rossville AME Zion Church

584 Bloomingdale Road | Woodrow | built 1897

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. 1897

    December 19

    Sandy Ground's congregation dedicates its new frame church on Bloomingdale Road

    By 1890 the growing congregation had bought this 1.25-acre site for a new church. Under Rev. William T. Biddle it raised $5,000 for land, building and furnishings, partly through concerts of jubilee songs. Swedish-born Tottenville builder Andrew Abrams, who had served in the Navy as a carpenter's mate, put up a plain clapboard church with a gabled porch on a high masonry basement. It was dedicated on December 19, 1897.

    “The $5,000 total cost for the land, construction, and furnishings was raised through a combination of individual contributions…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1898

    October

    A "mock marriage" supper and concert raises money for the new church

    One early fundraiser for the church was a mock wedding with a concert and supper in October 1898. Leaders from the Jackson, Harris, Bishop, Landin and Purnell families organized it, with pastor John H. Mason, the choir and Manhattan soloists. At least two white neighbors performed: Mrs. Charles Bogardus, wife of the general-store owner, and Max Maretzek Jr., son of the well-known impresario and composer.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1919

    Rev. Florence Spearing Randolph takes over the church and raises money for its pews

    The 1916 closing of the oyster beds cost the church members and money, and few male ministers wanted the post. Florence Spearing Randolph (1866-1951), a minister, suffragist, lecturer and temperance worker, served here from 1919 to 1922, just before leaving for missionary work in Liberia and the Gold Coast. She steadied the church's finances and led a drive that raised $1,600 for the present pews.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1963

    After the South Shore fire, the church basement becomes a Red Cross relief depot

    A large fire swept Staten Island's South Shore in 1963. Thelma "Nan" Pedro, a church member who led its Missionary Society for 19 years and lived at 565 Bloomingdale Road in the early 1990s, helped the Red Cross set up a center in the church basement to hand out supplies to people burned out of their homes.

    “…she assisted the Red Cross in establishing a distribution center in the basement of the church to assist fire victims…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

All 4 buildings with stories in Woodrow