Girl at the entrance to the Engine 61 station house, August 3, 1928. The wood-frame station house was replaced by a new two-story brick structure in 1929.

Morris Park Station, ca. 1915. In 1904 the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad began work on their Harlem line, planning for 12 new stations. Of the proposed number, only six were constructed, and only three survive (and just barely) today. The Morris Park Station is one of those survivors. Designed by Cass Gilbert, the Morris Park Station (along with the others on the Harlem line) were never as popular as expected. Opened in 1908, they were all closed by 1937 when the line was taken completely out of service. The Morris Park Station was a small multicolored tile and brick structure that, according to a New York Times article, looked like "it could have been a cable-car terminal in the Austrian Alps." After closing the buildings were unfortunately left to deteriorate. Since the station closed the Morris Park building has had a different (and historically inaccurate) roof installed and its large windows bricked in. The building has been the home of the Parkchester Rifle & Revolver Club since at least the 1980s. In the wake of the attacks of September 11th, they painted their building with an American flag motif, which remains today.

My Archive Spring 2019 "My sister (right) and me. September 1970. It was my first day of kindergarten at St. Raymond's school. As a second grader, clearly, my sister needed a briefcase for all her important papers. My parents were original Parkchester families, and we were the second generation living there and attending St. Raymond's school." —Elizabeth Lauenstein

Poplar (left) and Silver Streets, Westchester Square, August 25, 1935.

St. Raymond’s Church, 1905. St. Raymond’s parish was founded in 1842, in what was then Westchester County. Today, it is the oldest Roman Catholic parish in the Bronx. The first church was dedicated in August 1845, with adjacent land used as a cemetery. The parish grew rapidly. Within five years, the church established mission churches in other parts of Westchester. In 1876, having outgrown the on-site burial ground, the St. Raymond’s Cemetery was opened in Throggs Neck. By the 1890s, parishioners numbered over 2,000. In 1897, the Archbishop commissioned architect George H. Streeton to design the new St. Raymond’s. The new church, in a Byzantine Revival-style, was completed the following year, with help from Italian craftsmen, brought in from Italy, for the project. The pair of soaring towers, the large rose window, and the surrounding cemetery create a truly impressive picture.

The two buildings that are seen in the middle of the frame at nos. 1478 and 1476 still stand!

Westchester Square Hospital, 1931. The hospital, which opened in 1929, was enlarged twice during the 1940s. The present facility is operated by the Montefiore Medical Center.

1515 Williamsbridge Road, 1928.