The Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was established in 1853 to serve German Catholics in the Melrose neighborhood of the South Bronx. The Rev. Caspar Metzler was appointed pastor, and under his leadership a two-story wooden church building was erected on what is now East 150th Street at Melrose Avenue. This church was dedicated on May 29, 1853. Sermons were offered in German and English.

In 1886, the parish was placed under the supervision of the Redemptorist Fathers, with Rev. James Keitz as pastor. Plans were soon made to erect a larger church directly behind the original building. Designed by Henry Bruns, the brick Romanesque Revival structure measured 170 feet long by 78 feet wide and could accomodate 1000 persons. The new church faced East 150th Street and had a façade with three entrances. Over the center door was a spire that rose 215 feet. Archbishop Corrigan laid the cornerstone on September 25, 1887, and the completed church was dedicated in December that same year.
 

Over the next two decades additional buildings were added. In 1894, a large rectory was built on the corner of East 150th Street and Melrose Avenue. Next to be built, in 1901, was the school hall, designed by Anthony F.A. Schmitt to provide classrooms for 800 students. A new convent adjoining the church and occupied by the Sisters of Charity was dedicated on April 1, 1907.
 

Over the years, the demographics of the Melrose neighborhood changed. From the beginning, although Immaculate Conception was predominantly a German parish, it also served people of other nationalities, including Irish, Italians, and Poles. Some of their descendants continue to attend Immaculate Conception. Eventually, the predominant group of Germans moved out and were replaced by Spanish-speaking residents. Today, the parish is comprised of multiple ethnic groups.
 

Sadly, the tall steeple, an area landmark for over 100 years, was removed due to deterioration. Plans to replace it were never realized.

W.W. Kimball Company
Chicago, Ill. (1903); reb. by Kimball (1913)
Electro-pneumatic action

The W.W. Kimball organ was installed in 1903 as part of the parish's Golden Jubilee celebration. Kimball returned in 1913 to rebuild the organ, quite possibly to replace an unreliable tubular-pneumatic action with electro-pneumatic action.
Specifications of this organ have not yet been located.

The fate of this organ is unknown.

• "Another New Church," The New York Times (Sept. 26, 1887).

• The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X, Vol. III. New York: The Catholic Editing Company, 1914.

• Shelley, Thomas J. The Bicentennial History of the Archdiocese of New York 1808-2008. Strasbourg: Éditions du Signe, 2007.

• Twomey, Bill. South Bronx: Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.