Fordham Manor Dutch Church, Bronx

The Dutch Reformed Church, in Fordham Manor, Bronx, New York City was organized in May of 1696. Rev. John Montaigne was installed as pastor, and services were first held in private homes.

The Dutch settler John Archer (Dutch Jan Arcer) established a community in 1666, known as Fordham Manor (now a neighborhood in the western Bronx), at what is now 225th Street near the Harlem River. Cornelius Steenwyck acquired this land after John Archer defaulted on his mortgage.

The first temple of the Dutch Reformed Church in Fordham Manor was erected in 1706, on the farm of James Valentine (now Devoe Park). The congregation had difficulty in maintaining a pastor, and the ministers of the surrounding churches supplied the Fordham Manor Church until 1766.

This temple was destroyed by British troops during the Independence War, between 1776 and 1783.

After the war, the church was reorganized and the second temple was built, in 1801, about a mile north on land donated by Dennis Valentine, on the north side of Kingsbridge Road. Rev. John Frelinghuysen Jackson was installed in 1802. The Fordham Manor Church at this time was independent from the New York Dutch Church and has remained so until the present day.

The Church was incorporated in the Westchester County Clerk's office on February 10, 1849, under the title of "Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Fordham in The Town of West Farms, County of Westchester, and the State of New York".

The third temple was built in 1849 and dedicated on October 10. It adjoined the site of the former temple. The bell was cast in the Maneely's Foundry West Troy, established in 1826. Enlargement of this third temple began in 1878 and it was rededicated on July 16, 1880 (photo on the right at 71 Kingsbridge Road / 2703 Reservoir Avenue).

By 1936, the old temple was in such poor condition that it could not be repaired, so it was agreed to have it demolished and erect a new edifice. On February 4, 1940, the St. James Episcopal Church, at 190th Street and Jerome Avenue, offered the Fordham Church to hold services and continue activities in their Church, during the period the new temple was under construction. A Farewell Dinner was held on February 7, 1940. In September, the services were held at the Park Republican Club.

Ground for the fourth and present temple was broken at services on Sunday, April 7, 1940. The cornerstone was laid on October 6, 1940 at at 2711 Reservoir Avenue, the Bronx. It was built in the Georgian colonial style on a site near the former temple. The first services in the new temple were held in the church hall on Sunday, November 24, 1940. The dedication service was held on Sunday evening, December 15.