 In the 1840s, what is now the intersection of Fordham Road and Webster Avenue was a rural junction in the town of West Farms, characterized by farmland and cottages with a few small businesses.At the site of Fordham Plaza at Washington Avenue was the Powell Farm House, the oldest residence in the neighborhood which was built at the turn of the 19th Century as part of the Union Hill Farm.A boarding school was also present on the farm grounds.