The Hatching Cat of Gotham

Leonard W. Jerome, the grandfather of Winston Churchill, was a successful stock speculator known as “The King of Wall Street.” An avid sportsman, he helped build the Jerome Park Racetrack in the Bronx (site of the first Belmont Stakes in 1867) and was one of the founders of the Coney Island Jockey Club. Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, Jerome Avenue in Brooklyn, Jerome Park Reservoir, and the Jerome Stakes are all named after him.