When Cheechee disappeared from the Central Court Cigar Store at the corner of Schermerhorn and Smith Streets just a few weeks before Christmas in 1949, everyone in the neighborhood lost some of their holiday cheer. Kids from one to 92 would not have a merry Christmas until Santa brought her back safely.
Posts Tagged ‘Brooklyn History’
1949: Cheechee, the Cigar Store Cat at Schermerhorn and Smith Streets Who Came Home for Christmas
Posted: 28th November 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Cats in the MewsTags: Amber Davis, Brooklyn Children's Court, Brooklyn History, David Karp, Elizabeth Eaton Carver Whittier, Robert J. Wilkin, Thomas Tupper Whittier
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1934: Brownie and Flora, the Dog and Cat Guardians of Brooklyn’s Pier 12
Posted: 18th October 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Dog TailsTags: Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Wharf and Warehouse Company, Joe Santanelli, Montague Street, New York Dock Company, Pierrepont
Many old stories have been told of the Brooklyn-born canine and feline mascots that went to sea (like Peggy and Tom of the USS Maine, as an example), but this tale, which takes place at Pier 12 of the New York Dock Company, is about a landlubber dog and cat who patrolled the Brooklyn waterfront.
1903: Morris, the Faithful Police Cat of the Sheepshead Bay Station in Homecrest
Posted: 12th August 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Feline MascotsTags: Brooklyn History, Cats of Old New York, Homecrest, Ira Ferris, police cats, Sheepshead Bay
For fifteen years, Morris served as the ever-watchful feline mascot and mouser of the Sheepshead Bay police station, which was located in the Homecrest neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay. As official police cat of the 68th Precinct, it was his job to nab the rats and other vermin with which the rural district was infested.
1903: C. Buster, the battleship cat treated at the Fort Greene Hospital for Dogs and Cats
Posted: 27th July 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Cat StoriesTags: Brooklyn History, Fort Greene, Herbert J. Brotheridge, Ship cats, USS Indiana
There was much sorrow and indignation among the men on board the USS Indiana on April 27, 1903. That day, there were about six men on the battleship’s sick list. C. Buster, the battleship cat, was also on the sick list.
“C. Buster!” the ship’s surgeon called out. Letting out a plaintive meow and hopping on three legs, the battleship cat responded to the doctor’s summons. Not able to explain his injury, the cat held up his paw and allowed the doctor to examine it…
1924: Tom, the 20-Pound Brooklyn Cat of Gage & Tollner on Fulton Street
Posted: 23rd May 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Cats in the MewsTags: Brooklyn History, Cats of Old New York, Fulton Street, Gage & Tollner, John Craft, Samuel Smith
Tom and his brother cat were born in Gage & Tollner’s restaurant in 1917, when the famous oyster bar and chophouse was on the ground floor of the circa 1875 Craft building at 372-374 Fulton Street. No one knows what happened to his mother and brother, but Tom “apparently recognized his proper sphere in life” and stayed on at Gage & Tollner, where he dined on scallops alongside great icons like Mae West and Jimmy Durante.
