Annunciation Park

Convent and Amsterdam Av, W 135 St

Manhattan

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

Annunciation Park is named after the nearby Church of the Annunciation. The annunciation, according to Christian doctrine, was when the angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she was pregnant with the Christ child. The church, founded in 1853, originally stood on 131st Street to the east of the Boulevard (the old name for the northern section of Broadway) in a church building constructed in 1854. At the time, the neighborhood was a rural hamlet called Manhattanville. Noted for its elevated views of the Hudson River and its distance from the unhealthy environment of New York City, the community was connected to New Jersey by ferry beginning in 1808, and to New York City by streetcar beginning in 1853. The church was adjacent to Manhattan College, one of two religious institutions of higher learning (the other being the Convent of the Sacred Heart). Manhattan College was founded in 1853 by the Christian Brothers. In 1921, Manhattan College moved to the Riverdale sectio…