No. 855
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 10, 2026

A Private Hospital for Cats.

New York City -- Mrs. Goodman's Hospital for Cats.
March 10, 2026
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Spaces are still available on tomorrow’s Gilded Age Mansion & Memorials RIverside Drive walking tour. We’ll explore the backstory of this winding, scenic drive and the houses and monuments that marked it as millionaire mile that rivaled Fifth Avenue. The forecast is for spring sunshine—join us at 1 pm for an insightful walk on the […]
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A Private Hospital for Cats.

Cat-Hospital

At 170 Division Street, in this city, lives a philanthropic German lady, Mrs. Rosalia Goodman. The tendencies of her kindly heart have prompted her to devote much of her time to the comfort and relief of persecuted and neglected felines. The house she occupies is a three-story wooden building, and dates back to the Dutch period of the city. She has lived there for several years, and makes a comfortable living by renting rooms, retaining two for herself and her cats. Here she dispenses a liberal charity to a large family of cats. Besides many pets who for years have been kindly cared for, the family is constantly being increased by the addition of unfortunate tabbies whose wants are brought to the notice of the worthy woman. Lean and hungry cats prowling around in search of food, cats who bear the scars received by having boot-jacks, crockery-ware, etc., thrown at them by unappreciative hearers while they were performing a midnight concert; cats who come out with broken limbs and disordered fur from the ordeal of an interview with naughty little boys, and alI cats hungry and in distress, when brought to this asylum, receive the tenderest care. So well known in the neighborhood is the idiosyncrasy of Mrs. Goodman that whenever one of the cases above-mentioned comes to the notice of any of her sympathizing neighbors, the unfortunate sufferer is placed in her charge. When our artist visited her rooms, to make the sketch published on this page, he found the benevolent lady administering to the wants of some fifty cats, of all ages, sizes and conditions.


Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, July 7, 1875.