Before the European settlements, the rocky hill of Manhattan mica-schist was used by the Native Americans as a lookout station to see over the entire island.

During the American Revolutionary War, Hessian soldiers "mounted a battery" at the hill "to command the mouth of the Harlem River".

"Mount Morris Square" was officially opened December 1, 1840, but was originally unimproved until 1869, when it was landscaped to a plan by the City surveyor Ignaz Pilat.

[8] Late 19th- and early 20th-century residential row houses and church architecture fill Mount Morris Park Historic District.

Romanesque Revival, neo-Grec, Queen Anne, and 1893's World Columbian Exposition in Chicago were among the influences that created the eclectic style from the Gilded Age.