Fordham Manor Dutch Reformed Church, February 1940. The congregation of the Fordham Manor Reformed Church celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1996. In 1696 founding members of the church were given a charter by the King of England to built a chapel. The original sanctuary was constructed in 1706 nearby at what is now Devoe Park on W. 190th St. and University Ave. The original structure was burned to the ground by British troops during the Revolutionary War. The church moved to this plot on Reservoir Ave. in 1800 and the building seen in this photograph (with the four-story wooden steeple) was constructed in the 1849 and was razed 1940 to make way for the current structure.