In the early nineteenth century, a famous Irish political leader named Daniel O’Connell of Cahersiveen, County Kerry, had a donkey that he called Valiante. An old wives’ tale suggested that if a child had the measles, whooping cough, or any other childhood ailment, he or she could be cured by passing under and over O’Connell’s donkey […]
Posts Tagged ‘New York City History’
1911: Pat, The Old Irish Donkey of Arthur Avenue That Never Missed a St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Posted: 9th March 2018 by The Hatching Cat in Animal AttractionsTags: Arthur Avenue, Michael O'Connell, New York City History, St. Patrick's Day, St. Patrick's Day Parade
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1899: The New York Cat Who Fell to Earth on West Fourth Street
Posted: 26th February 2018 by The Hatching Cat in Cat StoriesTags: Benjamin G. Dovey, cat story, Herring Farm, New York City History, New York University, Washington Square, West Fourth Street
On September 4, 1889, Benjamin G. Dovey offered a $10 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the person who had tossed a glossy black cat with tiger stripes from a top-floor window of the brick house at 28 West Fourth Street. “If I can discover the guilty wretch who hurled that poor, […]
1883: Ned, the First Cat to Cross Over the New Brooklyn Bridge
Posted: 19th January 2018 by The Hatching Cat in Cat StoriesTags: Brooklyn Bridge, C.W. McAuliffe, Emily Roebling, Famous Cats, Harmony Hall, John A. Roebling, New York City History
In 1866, the New York State Legislature passed legislation authorizing the construction of an East River bridge to connect Manhattan and Brooklyn. A year later, the New York Bridge Company was incorporated and John A. Roebling, who presented a design for a 1,600-foot bridge, was appointed chief engineer for the Brooklyn Bridge. Following a series […]
1906: Speck, the Momma Cat Who Saved Christmas for 16 Families at 27 Second Avenue on the Lower East Side
Posted: 16th December 2017 by The Hatching Cat in Cat StoriesTags: 27 Second Avenue, fire cat, Frederick Turkowsky, Henry Hellmers, hero cat, New York City History, Philip Minthorne
Speck was an ordinary New York City cat who led an ordinary life in Frederick Turkowsky’s plumbing shop at 27 Second Avenue. Up until December 5, 1906, very few people on the Lower East Side, save for Frederick, even knew she existed. According to a plumbing trade journal published in April 1905, Frederick was already established […]
1903: Bob, the Mummified Cat of the Grand Union Tea Company in Brooklyn’s DUMBO
Posted: 11th December 2017 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Cat StoriesTags: 68 Jay Street, Comfort Sands, Grand Union Tea Company, Joshua Sands, mascot cat, New York City History
In the 1904 edition of King’s Views of Brooklyn, the Grand Union Tea Company building in Brooklyn’s present-day DUMBO neighborhood was listed as the “largest warehouse and factory in the United States for teas, coffees, spices, flavoring extracts, baking-powders and soaps.” By the mid-1920s, the Grand Union warehouse had 10 acres of floor space. In addition to a […]
