Although one of the churches on this walk dates to early Dutch settlers of the Bronx (St. Ann’s built circa 1841), most are churches which were built by and serviced the immigrant communities of Mott Haven and the larger area of the South Bronx. As the Bronx’s population grew in the late 19th and early 20th century it swelled with the influx of German, Irish, and Italian communities. Most remain in service today, ministering to the Spanish-speaking, African American, and African immigrant populations of the South Bronx.

St. Anselm's Roman Catholic Church as viewed from Wales Avenue, 1938. The parish of St. Anselm's dates to 1891, while the current church building was not constructed until 1918. A clear stylistic change from most of the earlier nearby churches, St. Anselm's was designed in the Byzantine Revival style. It is said that the design was inspired by the Hagia Sophia, the basilica, turned mosque, turned museum in Istanbul, Turkey. A quirky bit of religious history was once housed at St. Anselm's. The body of St. Peregine, who was martyred in Rome in A.D. 192 and entombed as a shrine and venerated by communities in Rome and then Germany, came to the Bronx for a time. In 1895, after a fire in the church where it had been housed , the shrine traveled to the United States and was kept at St. Anselm's in the Bronx until 1927, when it was removed to St. John's Abbey in Minnesota.

A collection of churches across New York City from the New York Public Library.