Posts Tagged ‘Cats of Old New York’

When a fire broke out on Halloween at 1632-1640 Pitkin Avenue in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, a mama cat was not about to let the firemen ignore her box of kittens.

When a Bergen Street trolley struck a horse-drawn milk wagon near the corner of New York Avenue in 1907, street cats and parlor cats came from every direction to wade and wallow in the spilled milk.

“Midnight prowlers and back-fence howlers enjoyed a lacteal orgy yesterday morning at the expense of William Evans, 250 Herkimer Street, whose milk wagon was struck by a Bergen Street trolley car.” New York Sun, June 30, 1907

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.

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.