Glimpses of Our Past: A Pair of Pioneers

Best known as a sports: and entertainment venue, Madison Square Garden has actually been home to a number of cat shows, starting as far back as 1895.

- Heidi Crabtree

Local clubs had held shows beforehand, mostly concentrating on specific breeds. What we think of today as "all-breed" cat shows have been around since 1871, but the first Madison Square Garden show gained much publicity, with two "tiger striped cats" taking honors. Journalists noted that some cats were even bought at the show for up to $100. Indeed, the Shenango Valley News (Greenville, PA) noted that those exhibitors at this first major cat show "will be pointed out as pioneers in the cat breeding industry."

In 1911, columnist Adele Fay Williams wrote in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the city possessed an unsuspected degree of enthusiasm for cat fanciers, opining that it was a "rich person's hobby." Despite Williams's claim, Pennsylvania had no shortage of cat clubs, with Persians being of particular interest. One of those Persian devotees was a young theatre fan, originally known as Emogeane Coca. Coca split her time between her Persian cats and auditioning for roles in local theatre acts.