Archive for the ‘Cat Stories’ Category

In April 1944, an unnamed cat fell down the chimney of a six-story apartment building at 1973 Bryant Avenue in West Farms. For four days and nights, Rose Colgan, who lived on the first floor, listened to the poor cat cry behind a wall in her department. It took four days, but she finally decided to take action.

To celebrate her beloved cat’s 13th birthday, Mrs. Sarah Knowles held a fancy breakfast in his honor at her home in Brooklyn. Many newspapers across the country picked up the story and waxed poetic about the pampered cat.

Dr. Ralph Irving Lloyd was an eye doctor who also had an eye for cats.

In the early 1900s, Lloyd created dozens of lantern slides of cats in his Park Slope neighborhood, where he lived for a good chunk of his 93 years of life.

In the spring of 1899, 18 years after the Windermere opened at 400 West 57th Street, a war broke out between the cat-loving and cat-hating tenants.

I must warn you that this true story involves gun violence against cats, but it also provides a unique insight into life at the Windermere (one of the city’s oldest apartment buildings) and life in Old New York.

With the 2023 baseball season upon us, the story of the Brooklyn Robins feline mascot is a great “Did You Know?” story to share with the cat lovers and baseball fans in your life.

The story also has ties to the Old Stone House of Gowanus, where hundreds of Maryland soldiers lost their lives while trying to save George Washington and his troops during the Revolutionary War.

This is Part 1 of a two-part story.