In December 1912, a wealthy and well-known cat fancier from Brighton, Massachusetts decided that the Plaza Hotel in New York City was the perfect setting for a feline wedding for her two show cats.
Archive for the ‘Crazy Cat Ladies’ Category
1912: Don Dai, the Quakeress, and the Feline Wedding at the Plaza Hotel
Posted: 9th July 2025 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Crazy Cat LadiesTags: Cats of Old New York, Fred Sterry, George B. Brayton, New York City History, Plaza Hotel
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CAT Chats: Femme Fatales and the Myth of the Crazy Cat Lady
Posted: 8th January 2025 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Crazy Cat LadiesTags: Cats About Town Tours, Cats of Old New York, Enoch's Coffee, New York City History
Introducing C.A.T. Chats
This winter, I will be doing some in-person presentations about cats of Old New York as part of my Cats About Town Waling Tours. My first presentation about the myth of the crazy cat lady will take place on Sunday, February 2, at a coffee shop in Hell’s Kitchen.
1894: The International Alley Cats of Poverty Hollow at Pitt Street and Broome Street
Posted: 28th February 2021 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Crazy Cat LadiesTags: Cats of Old New York, Delancey Farm, John R. Livingston, Lower East Side, Mount Pitt, New York City History, Pitt Street, Poverty Hollow
Miss Clementine Anderson and Miss Mary J. Anderson were two wealthy, educated, and refined “spinsters” who turned the Poverty Hollow neighborhood around Broome and Pitt Streets on the Lower East Side into a paradise for cats.
1904: The 80-180 Felines of Caroline Ewen, the Wealthy Cat Lady of East Harlem
Posted: 6th August 2020 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Crazy Cat LadiesTags: 105 East 101st Street, Brigadier General John Ewen, Caroline G. Ewen, Cats of Old New York, Ewen Park, New York City History
In August 1904, two of Caroline G. Ewen’s neighbors on East 101st Street petitioned the Board of Health regarding the nightly concerts of 80 or more fat and sassy cats sheltered in the woman’s three-stone brownstone at 105 East 101st Street. “It is not that we object to Miss Ewan’s humane impulses in caring for all the stray and homeless felines of the neighborhood, but the noise of her pets is something wonderful,” the petitioners said. “It is enough to drive a strong man with a newly-signed pledge in the pocket to drink.”
1890: The Cat Lady of Bedford Street and Her 29 Feline Companions
Posted: 25th March 2020 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Crazy Cat LadiesTags: Cats of Old New York, Crazy Cat Lady, Herring Farm, Jane Duncan, Jefferson Market Court, New York City History, William W. Duncan
On March 25, 1890, Jefferson Market Police Court Justice White committed Mrs. Jane Duncan to the care of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction “for examination as to her sanity.” The sentencing stemmed from charges from her landlord, Dr. Thomas C. Knox, who feared that Mrs. Duncan had too many cats in her apartment at 30 Bedford Street.
