Since the Center for the Urban Environment relocated to our new headquarters at 168 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues this spring, we’ve had a chance to take a closer look at the urban geography of Park Slope’s Western edge. American Legion Post 1636 at 193-95 9th Street across the street from the bus stop (and the newly opened Bar Tano) is just one among the many intriguing and unusual buildings in the neighborhood (on the right in the photo). We suspected that it might have had a hidden ecclesiastical history. Its Gothic Arch entryway, the peaked roof-top edifice, and the long, vertical green-shingled roof extension peaking out over the “Enterprise” building on 3rd Avenue at 9th Street—were just a few of the details that lead us in that direction.

We were not disappointed. Research into the neighborhood at-large produced some interesting results. The same address, for instance, was noted as “Danish Evan. Church” in the 1898 Brooklyn Atlas at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Originally row houses, the buildings were Our Savior’s Danish Lutheran Church/Danish Seaman’s Church (the photo on the left, above) at that time. The church was organized in 1872 and these 9th Street buildings were acquired in 1886 with the assistance of “kind friends” in Denmark. According to a New York Times article dated October 28, 1894, there were two small models of three-masted, fully-rigged vessels that hung from the center of the ceiling proudly flying Danish flags. According to the article, the services here were hearty, with the pastor walking up and down the aisles as he preached and during the hymns. In 1957 the congregation moved from its Park Slope location to Brooklyn Heights and the building was occupied sometime after that by the American Legion. The structure of the original building is clearly visible in the present one, and its history openly connects us to Brooklyn’s long and illustrious seafaring history.

–Ruth Edebohls

Ruth Edebohls is the Coordinator of Urban Tours at the Center for the Urban Environment. To learn more about the Center click here.