The original Mount Washington Presbyterian Church was founded in 1844 on the property of Samuel Thomson. Mr. Thomson was a deeply religious man, and upon realizing the closest church to him was 4 miles from home, he decided to build a wooden Gothic church with a steeple at the intersection of modern-day Dyckman Street and Broadway. Upon the expansion of the subway system that would be built underneath the church, it was relocated to its current day home at Vermilia Avenue and 204th Street. The original church was torn down in 1929.

The church was named after the site of Fort Washington (current day Bennet Park) where a Revolutionary Battle took place on November 16, 1776. Ultimately the battle was lost by the Continental Army as they faced a three-sided assault by the British Army. At the end of the battle, Americans suffered 59 casualties, 96 wounded and 2,837 prisoners of war.