ST. ALOYSIUS, RIDGEWOOD

THE twin towers of St. Aloysius (pronounced “alla WISH us”) Roman Catholic Church at Stockholm Street and Onderdonk Avenue can be seen for miles in Ridgewood and nearby Maspeth. It was built between 1907 and 1917 (Francis Berlenbach, arch.). The parish celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017.  The church  is the largest building in the city constructed with Kreischer brick forged in Staten Island. At 165 feet in height its twin campaniles are rivaled in the general area only by the Spanish Baroque St. Barbara’s R.C. Church at Central Avenue and Bleecker Street, eight avenues to the south. The twin towers can be seen as far away as Calvary Cemetery, a fair distance to the north across Newtown Creek.

I had always been under the impression that Stockholm Street in Bushwick and Ridgewood was so named in honor of a putative Scandinavian community that may have resided there. There was certainly a large one in Bay Ridge and Sunset Park.

I was wrong though; Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss’ handy Brooklyn By Name states that Stockholm Street was named for the Stockholm brothers, Andrew and Abraham, who provided land on which the Second Dutch Reformed Church, built in 1850 and still standing at Bushwick Avenue and Himrod Street (see this page) was built.

I always found Dutch names in NYC fun to say… Onderdonk, Knickerbocker, Amsterdam. Onderdonk Avenue was named for the Dutch Colonial Onderdonk family; their farmhouse, the original part of which dates to about 1710, is the last colonial-era house on Flushing Avenue still standing, home to the Ridgewood Historical Society. 

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9/28/23