St. Sebastian’s Church at Roosevelt Avenue and 58th Street across the street from Donovan’s (some parishioners cross 58th directly after Mass to bend the bar) was founded in 1894, with its first services held at the Woodside Firemen’s Hall at 39th Avenue and 58th Street in a building that still stands, though heavily altered:
When first organized, Woodside Hook and Ladder Company was housed in rented quarters. By 1884, they had raised enough money to buy property and build Firemen’s Hall on 39th Avenue next to Meyer’s Hotel. The bell pictured in the rooftop tower now sits in front of St. Sebastian’s Rectory. It first hung aboard the former East River steamer, Sylvan Dell, then at the firehouse, and then in the belfry of the first St. Sebastian’s Church, opened in 1896. [from FNY’s 2005 Woodside Page]
Two years later its first proper church building was constructed at Woodside Avenue and 58th Street at the former address of a prominent early Woodsider, John Kelly; that building was later replaced by the parish school, which is still standing. A gilded plaque commemorates St. Seb’s parishioners who perished in “The Great War.”
The current church building was once used for much more secular activities: it is the former Loew’s Woodside Theater, a vaudeville and movie palace. It was “converted” in 1952. President Bill Clinton visited St. Sebastian in November 1998 to stump for Chuck Schumer in his successful bid to unseat incumbent Senator Al D’Amato that year.
The parish namesake, St. Sebastian, is usually portrayed as a youth who has just been shot with arrows. According to Catholic tradition, Sebastian was indeed a martyr under the 3rd Century Roman emperor Diocletian, but he was healed of his wounds from the arrows and was later beaten to death with clubs. If at first…
See this page for a movie poster for a feature at the old Loew’s Woodside.
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3/18/25