Norwegian Evangelical Free Church, January 5, 1959. The Norwegian Evangelical Free Church was established in 1897, serving a congregation of immigrant laborers and dockworkers from a church at Fourth Avenue and 15th Street. In the opening decades of the 20th century, the congregation shifted to Bay Ridge, prompting the church’s relocation to 66th Street. The cornerstone of the new church was laid in 1928, not far from the eventual route of the Gowanus Expressway. The Bay Ridge church was spared by the highway project, but was replaced with a new, two-sanctuary structure in 1962. At the time, the church still conducted some services in Norwegian, and the second sanctuary was built to facilitate services in both English and Norwegian. Today, the second space is used as a gymnasium.

59th Street and Fourth Avenue, Sunset Park, Brooklyn; June 25, 1962. Outside the Central Restaurant (No. 5824, center-right) is an entrance the the 59th Street station of the BMT Fourth Avenue Line (N/R). The Gowanus Expressway is visible in the distance, at left.

If you were young (or old or in-between) and looking for fun in Bay Ridge in the 1940s, here are some of the local spots you might have frequented! 🍹💃🏿🎥

North-facing survey photograph of Fourth Avenue at 64th Street, October 17, 1912. The Zion Norwegian Lutheran Church is visible at upper right. The cornerstone of the one-story church was laid in October 1910, two years after the congregation was founded. A new church was built on the same site in 1937. Since then, southern Brooklyn's once-prominent Scandinavian population has dwindled. The final service at Zion was held in January 2014, by which point the congregation numbered in the teens.