by Michelle Mullen
As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, Riverdale Senior Services and the Kingsbridge Historical Society are reviving a neighborhood tradition, one square at a time.
Nearly five decades ago, local women gathered for “quilting bees” to commemorate the country’s bicentennial, stitching together fabric panels into massive quilts that captured what they loved most about Riverdale and Kingsbridge. The new project, a 250th anniversary tapestry, follows in that spirit, inviting residents to create 12-by-12-inch works that reflect their own memories, landmarks and stories. The finished squares will eventually be stitched together and displayed throughout the community.
“Back in 1976, it was a little easier to find a lot of people who knew how to sew, and these days that’s less common,” Nick Dembowski, president of the Kingsbridge Historical Society, said. “So, we’re using a number of different methods so people who don’t have sewing expertise can get involved.”
Before participants began sketching their designs, Dembowski walked them through the layered history of what is now greater Riverdale for inspiration, tracing Riverdale and Kingsbridge from their geological origins and Native American Lenape settlements to the arrival of Henry Hudson, the Dutch and English colonies and the pivotal role the area played during the American Revolution.
The history lesson, he said, was meant to spark ideas and deepen reflection before participants translated memory into image.
The current 12-week workshop is being held at Riverdale Senior Services and is open to the public on a drop-in basis. Leading the project is teaching artist Tijay Mohammed, who began not with fabric, but with conversation. Participants first reflected on what the Bronx has meant to them — the first apartment they rented, the church where they found sanctuary, the bridge they crossed each day to work, and the smell of cookies drifting from the Stella D’oro factory before it closed in 2009.
In early sessions, participants transferred their ideas onto 12-by-12-inch watercolor paper before adding colored pencil. Some arrived with printed photographs and carefully researched references. Others came with multiple concepts and had to narrow them down. New members who joined midstream were given a crash course so they could catch up and begin sketching their own squares.
The themes that have emerged range widely. One participant chose the Bronx Zoo entrance at Fordham Road, recalling childhood visits. Another depicts the Henry Hudson Bridge, marking the line where Manhattan meets the Bronx and the feeling of crossing into a different world. There are also tennis courts, local libraries, the Edgar Allen Poe Cottage and the new Yankee Stadium.
For some, the memories are deeply personal. One participant, who migrated from Liberia as a teenager, illustrated a young girl standing in front of Christ Church Riverdale. There, she said, she found community and safety after arriving in a new country.
“My role here is to inspire the participants, to bring out the best and creativity in them to create this piece,” Mohammed explained after leading a vibrant brainstorming session.
Like the quilts of 1976, the new tapestry is expected to become both artwork and archive as a stitched record of what Riverdale residents valued in 2026. Professional sewers will be brought in at the end of the process to assemble the individual squares into a finished tapestry that can endure for years to come.
Keywords
RSS,
Riverdale Senior Services,
Kingsbridge Historical Society,
Quilting Bees