Posts Tagged ‘Dogs of Old New York’

In my last two posts, I wrote about the Army cats of New York City’s Army Building on Whitehall Street and the black cat mascot of the New York Tank Corps. This next story for Military Appreciation Month goes to the dogs. The military dogs of Governors Island.

My latest story is one of my favorites from my upcoming book, The Bravest Pets of Gotham: Tales of Four-Legged Firefighters of Old New York (September 2024). I laugh every time I think about this crazy little dog of FDNY Engine 56. Enjoy.

A few months ago, my friend Laurie Gwen Shapiro, a New York City author and documentary film maker (and fellow Syracuse University graduate), alerted me to a mystery story about a dog named Julia who was buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens, Queens. All she had was a list of those buried at the cemetery, which included “Julia (1889), secretly buried dog who saved an apartment building of people from a fire.”

I told Laurie I loved a good animal mystery and would have to look into it. What I found was a remarkable story about a remarkable woman named Marie Antoinette Nathalie Dowell Pollard and her lifesaving coach dog, Julia.

Approached by a curious reporter for the New York Times on a cold, wet day in January 1899, the young woman attracting so much attention on Fifth Avenue explained that she was getting paid by the Exchange for Women’s Work to walk dogs. The reporter did some investigating into this curious new dog walker career…

On Saturday, May 7, I will be leading a virtual presentation for the Municipal Art Society of New York called “The Dog Days of Gotham.” The presentation will be one of hundreds of virtual and guided tours that will take place the weekend of May 6-8 as part of Jane’s Walk NYC. Registration for this free event is required.