The night before the police had to break down the door to his room at 139 Forsysth Street and shoo about two dozen cats off his bed, 63-year-old Adolph F. Armreid said to his landlord, “I think I am going to die tonight.” A few hours after the police chased the cats away, the neighbors […]
Archive for the ‘Cat Stories’ Category
1879: Fritz, Faust, and the Cat-Man Peddler of NYC’s Forsyth Street
Posted: 21st September 2019 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Men, Cat StoriesTags: Adolph Armreid, August Scheslau, Cat Men, Cats of New York, Forsyth Street, New York City History, Stephen Delancey
1879: Spitz and the Coin-Laden Cats and Dogs on East Broadway in the Lower East Side
Posted: 22nd August 2019 by The Hatching Cat in Cat StoriesTags: 101 East Broadway, Cats of Old New York, Hendrick Rutgers, Henry Rutgers, Jane McAdam, Lower East Side, New York City History, William B. Crosby
Jane McAdam’s two dogs and nine cats depended on her to feed them and provide water every day. That’s why she was determined to ensure their care when she was sentenced to prison for six months in February 1879.
1903: Thomas, the Feline Ghost of New York City’s Ansonia Hotel on Broadway
Posted: 15th August 2019 by The Hatching Cat in Animal Stories, Cat StoriesTags: Ansonia Hotel, Cats of Old New York, Chevilly, John Broome, New York City History, William Earle Dodge Stokes
Much has been written about New York City’s Ansonia Hotel and its rooftop farm, but I bet very few people know that a cat named Thomas once lived on the 16th floor and spent a few weeks spooking the hotel’s residents.
1891: Princeton, the Pampered Cat of Broadway Actress Julia Marlowe
Posted: 28th July 2019 by The Hatching Cat in Cat StoriesTags: Beresford Cat Club, Cat Lady, Cats in New York History, Highmount, Julia Marlowe, New York City History
The Home for Friendless Domestic Animals In 1891, Broadway actress Julia Marlowe boarded her cat Princeton at the new “Home for Friendless Domestic Animals” in Washington Heights. Julia reportedly paid 50 cents a week for Princeton to stay at the home while she was out of town touring with various theater groups throughout the country. […]
1904: The Not-so-Lucky Cigar Shop Cat of Bushwick, Brooklyn
Posted: 12th July 2019 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Men, Cat StoriesTags: Bowronville, Bushwick History, Charles J. Nielsen, New York City History, Nielsen Cigars, Shop Cat, Watson Bowron
In August 1904, Charles J. Nielsen, one of the most prominent cigar manufacturers in Brooklyn, acquired a black cat for his Bushwick cigar shop on the southeast corner of Broadway and Gates Avenue.



