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1898: Peggy the Pug, Tom, and the Cat Martyrs of the USS Maine
During the 1800s and early 1900s, the Brooklyn Navy Yard served as a pseudo receiving and distributing station for the animal mascots of American warships. Some of these animals were born at the Navy...
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1910: Mike, the Extraordinary Trolley-Riding Fire Dog of Engine Company 8
Mike was no ordinary fire dog. In fact, he was no ordinary Dalmatian. As the son of Oakie and Bess, two of the most famous mascot dogs in the history of the Fire Department of New York, he was destined...
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1917: Jiggs, the Jelly-Belly Fire Dog of Brooklyn’s Engine 205
“Jiggs was the dog who started out as a lithe, slim pup who ran yelping and barking just ahead of the three beautiful horses that pulled old “205.” But Jiggs fell into evil ways. He became a...
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1899: Strike, the Heroic Eighth Precinct Police Dog of New York City’s Tribeca
Children play in a stalled, empty trolley car that wasn’t blown up during the Brooklyn Rapid Transit strike in July 1899. On July 16, 1899, a small group of motormen and conductors for the Brooklyn...
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1911: Buster, Topsy, and Yaller, the Police Mascots of NYC’s Lower East Side,...
Constructed in 1909, the large, block-long police station at 118 Clinton Street was quite the fortress, but it was simply not big enough to peacefully accommodate Buster and Topsy, the rival police cat...
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1936: The Cat-Saving Fire Dog Hero of Brooklyn’ s Engine Company No. 203
When Nip the fire dog died in 1939, the men of Engine Company No. 203 had his body stuffed and mounted. The black and tan mongrel dog is forever on display with his medals of honor at the New York City...
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1904: Roxy, the Long Island Railroad Mascot Dog With an Unlimited Commuter...
For 13 years, Roxie the Long Island Railroad Dog rode the trains across Long Island whenever he pleased. He never missed a connection, and always arrived at his intended destination. Only once did he...
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Mrs. Herman the Monkey and the Many Mascots of Engine Company No. 31 on...
This is not Mrs. Herman and Pinky, but this is what the monkey and dog mascots of Engine Company No. 31 may have looked like when Mrs. Herman rode on Pinky’s back. In the late 1800s and early 1900s,...
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1904: Subway Nellie, the Irish Setter Mascot of the Station at Bleecker and...
The first Subway Nellie was an Irish setter who arrived at the construction site of the new subway station at Bleecker and Elm Streets in 1903. (This is not Nellie.) A few years ago, I wrote about a...
View Article1902: Jerry, the Good Dog Gone Bad at Brooklyn’s Greenpoint Avenue Police...
In Old New York, almost every police station had a least one canine mascot in addition to one or more feline mousers. Although the cats seemed to get most of the press in those days, every once and a...
View Article1903: Bob, the Canine Golf Caddy of Brooklyn’s Marine and Field Club
Bob was an intelligent greyhound owned by a young golfer named Miss Maud Beatrice Pottle of Bath Beach, Brooklyn. He was specially trained to be Miss Pottle's golf caddy. She even made a harness for...
View Article1924: Sport, the Richmond Hill Police Dog Who Rescued a Cat Family
A few weeks after a collie adopted the men of the Richmond Hill police station, he found a mother cat with newborn kittens in an alley near the police station. After carefully considering the...
View Article1896: Nero, the Beloved Newfoundland of Harlem’s Fire Patrol No. 5
Somewhere under an apartment building on West 121st Street, on a section of the street just east of Amsterdam Avenue called George Carlin Way, lies the body of a large Newfoundland who was buried on an...
View Article1892: Chappie, the Pedigree Fire Dog of New York City’s Flatiron District
One of my favorite fire-cat stories is about Peter and Chops, the beloved firefighter felines of Engine Company No. 14 in New York City's Flatiron District. When I wrote the story about Peter and Chops...
View Article1926: Miracle on 99th Street: Fanny, Sandy, and Peggy, the Dogs Who Saved the...
"The barking of two dogs, answering each other on the wind and sleet swept East River saved the lives of more than 80 men, women and children asleep in the cabins of a line of 40 coal barges, torn from...
View Article1930s: Peggy, Pal, and Bess, the Prize-Winning Brooklyn Fire Dogs of the FDNY
For four months in 1936, Bess was the most famous mother of all the Brooklyn fire dogs in the Fire Department of New York. But then her own daughter took over the Top Mom title of the FDNY. The post...
View Article1886: Sergeant Nick, The Newfoundland of the East New York Police Department
Visitors to the old East New York Police Station never failed to notice the large Newfoundland dog sitting about as if he owned the place. The old dog, described as long and shaggy and turning gray...
View Article1903, 1936: The Dog and Cat Mascots of FDNY Engine Company No. 65
In 1903, one of the most popular dog-and-cat dynamic duos of the FDNY were Dan and Nickie* of Engine Company No. 65. Forty years later, Chappy and Henry the pole-sliding cat were the canine and feline...
View Article1910 and 1931: Happy and Pansy, the Cat-Saving Fire Dogs of the FDNY
In 1910 and 1931, Happy and Pansy were two cat-saving fire dogs of the FDNY who ran into burning buildings to save their natural enemy. The post 1910 and 1931: Happy and Pansy, the Cat-Saving Fire Dogs...
View Article1904: Baltimore, the New York City Fire Dog Mascot of Engine 26
During their brief time in Baltimore during the great fire of 1904, the firemen of FDNY Engine Company 26 adopted a stray dog who followed them throughout the day. The men called him Baltimore and...
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