Posts Tagged ‘New York History’

Part I of a Parkville Precinct Puppy Tale In 1907 the Police Department of the City of New York, under the command of Police Commissioner Theodore Bingham, sent Inspector George R. Wakefield to Paris and Ghent, Belgium, to look into acquiring some police dogs. Police dogs had been gaining popularity in Europe since their first […]

Once upon a time, there was a cat and dog boarding house nestled in the thick woods near 49th Street and 10th Avenue, in what was then the town of New Utrecht, Brooklyn, in Kings County, New York. The kennels, advertised as the Chelmsford Stock Farm, were just a stone’s throw from Fort Hamilton Avenue […]

On April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank off the coast of Newfoundland. Of the 2,228 passengers and crew members who had set sail across the Atlantic Ocean to New York, we know that only 705 survived.

What many may not know is that several roosters, hens, and chicks were also making the journey on the ship’s maiden voyage. They never reached their new home in Briarcliff Manor, New York.

In a recent post, I wrote about Ginger, a well-loved fire dog for Hook and Ladder Co. No. 5 of New York’s Metropolitan Fire Department. The following tale is also about Ginger, but this mascot was a fire cat for a historical fire company once called the Live Oak Engine Company. In 1894, an orange […]

On February 20, 1946, the Liberty ship SS Warren P. Marks arrived at Chelsea Piers (Pier 60) on the Hudson River carrying 81 dogs and “one live cat from Bremerhaven, Germany.” The dogs and cat had all been obtained overseas during World War II by American soldiers who wanted to keep them as pets back home.