"1129 E. 180th Street, north side, between Bronx Park Avenue and Devoe Avenue, showing the Fire Alarm Headquarters of the Fire Department. The building is within Bronx Park, 1938"

West Farms Presbyterian Church and graveyard, 1938. The church was built in 1815. The condition of the structure in this image is much deteriorated from the earlier 1911 photograph. In 1905, a new church building was constructed on the south side of 180th Street, and this structure was likely put out of regular use. The new church is a Gothic Revival structure. It was funded by Charles Bathgate Beck, a trustee of the church and a member of one of its oldest families, in honor of his mother. In 1910 as a nod to this action the church was renamed Beck Memorial. This old church building survived into the late 1930s but was likely demolished by the mid century.

West Farms Presbyterian Church, ca. 1885. In 1814 the First Presbyterian Church in the Village of West Farms was organized. In 1815 a small wood-frame church was erected. The adjacent cemetery was founded by John Butler for a private burial just after the establishment of the church. The Butler family owned the burial ground until the City took possession in 1954.

Fire alarm telegraph building, ca. 1915. Today, the FDNY’s Bronx Communications Office is located in the building. In 2011, the short block of East 180th Street between Defoe and Bronx Park Avenues was named in honor of Dennis O’Connell, a veteran FDNY dispatcher and bagpiper who died in 2008.

FDNY Engine 45, early 20th century wagon.

Beck Memorial Church, 1928. The second church building for the congregation originally established in 1814 and originally called the First Presbyterian Church of West Farms. This Gothic Revival style church was funded by a trustee Charles Bathgate Beck, in honor of his mother (hence the name). The most striking feature of this still standing (though seemingly unused building) is the large terra cotta topped tower with mansard roof and an ornate weathervane.

Immanuel Swedish Congregational Church, 1928. Despite the fact that the church exterior has remained largely unchanged since this photograph was taken, Bryant Avenue, which ran to the east of the church has been closed off. It is now a pedestrian path between the church and the nearby apartment houses.

West Farms Presbyterian Church and graveyard, 1911. The graveyard here contains the burials of soldiers who fought in four American wars: the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and World War I. The monument seen at center memorializes the soldiers of the Civil War and was erected in 1909.