Kingsbridge Historical Society makes long-awaited upgrade to Edgehill Church

Despite not having heating or air conditioning, the Kingsbridge Historical Society held meetings year-round at Edgehill Church at 2570 Independence Ave. This spring, the building got a major upgrade.

The only registered historic landmark in Spuyten Duyvil, Edghill served as the society’s home for exhibits and seminars through sweltering summers and freezing winters, with extreme temperatures forcing the occasional cancellation. On a recent chilly April night, the sanctuary was warm for the first time since the Kingsbridge Historical Society began meeting years ago.

Completed in 1889, Edgehill was worn by time and weather when the Kingsbridge Historical Society received the keys in 2022. The organization was faced with a list of repairs – starting with the lack of heat. 

Until a few weeks ago, the only heating system the church had was a decommissioned oil-burning furnace. Restoring it wasn’t practical, Nick Dembowski, the society’s president, noted, citing higher costs and the dirty soot that came with oil heat.

Thanks to a grant from State Senator Gustavo Rivera’s office, the society could go electric with an HVAC system, which uses a heat pump instead. It also offered air conditioning. 

“It’s such an old building so there were a lot of factors to take into consideration when putting [HVAC] ducts in a building like that,” Dembowski explained. “For one thing, you need to get permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to stick HVAC equipment in the yard.”

The equipment was installed behind the church, nearly unseen from the street. Inside the building, floor vents allowed for a discreet solution that minimally compromised the building’s historic interior.

One of the historical society’s founders, Reverend William Tieck, used to preach at Edgehill Church and was once a long-time pastor at St. Stephens United Methodist Church in Marble Hill before retiring in 1977. Around that time, he learned of a plan to convert Edgehill Church into a community center due to a falling congregation, as chronicled by the New York Times in 1997. 

“It was really because of him, in a sense, that we got Edgehill,” Nick Dembowski expressed, president of the Kingsbridge Historical Society. “After he retired, he came up and preached here at a time when the congregation couldn’t really afford to pay a pastor.”

Tieck served as Bronx County’s official historian from 1989 to 1996. He died a year later.

Earlier this month, the Kingsbridge Historical Society put its new system to the test with a presentation on the long-forgotten Dyckman Oval led by Don Rice. 

Once a bustling sports stadium in Inwood, the field operated from the 1910s through the 1930s, and featured a number of Hall of Famers out on the diamond, including legendary slugger Babe Ruth. The Oval is a vital and often overlooked piece of history in Black baseball, known for hosting Negro League baseball teams in a time when they were barred them from Major League stadiums.

Since its founding in 1949, the society has served as a source of historical reference on the Kingsbridge community. Dembowski looks forward to welcoming visitors into a fully climate-controlled space, where the society can continue to host concerts, performances and presentations.

Still, much work remains. Edgehill Church has no running water and the original wooden roof is badly decayed.

“It's very important for us to address that as our next move,” Dembowski said. “To unlock the potential of not only the society, but of the building as a space for the community, that needs to happen.”

In June, the Kingsbridge Historical Society will debut an exhibit exploring the American Revolution in Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Spuyten Duyvil and Marble Hill.