Archive for March, 2013

If you’ve ever driven along the Henry Hudson Parkway, you may have wondered about the enormous, vine-covered granite arches on the steep slope of Fort Tryon Park at the northern end of Manhattan. What appears to be the remnants of an old Roman aqueduct, like the Pont du Gard in southern France, is actually part of the most elaborate and most expensive private driveway in New York City.

On April 12, 1796, Captain Jacob Crowninshield arrived in New York Harbor on a trading ship called the America. On board was a two-year-old female elephant the captain had purchased in India for $450. She was the first elephant to ever come to America.

A True Story of Pampered Pets and Titanic Survivors In the late 19th century and early 1900s, New York City’s acclaimed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was the site of numerous pedigree dog shows. The first French Bulldog show took place at the luxury hotel in 1898, which, according to the French Bulldog Club of America, secured the […]

On October 7, 1897, a ceremonial demonstration took place at the General Post Office to celebrate the new pneumatic tube system. Demonstration canisters carried a peach, a suit of clothes, and a live cat in a cotton sack

In the early 1900s, magistrates in New York presided over cases involving misdemeanors or violations of ordinances. On this particular day, the ordinance violation concerned a stray alley cat named Pinky, who appeared at the West Side Magistrates Court.