The Ithaca Kitty, originally known as "The Tabby Cat", was a popular

stuffed toy A stuffed toy is a toy with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, lovies and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be called soft toys ...

in the United States which started a fad for plush toys that lasted from its introduction in 1892 until after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

History

The Ithaca Kitty was inspired by a gray

tabby cat A tabby cat, or simply tabby, is any domestic cat (''Felis catus'') with a Cat_coat_genetics#Tabbies , coat pattern distinguished by an M-shaped marking on its forehead, stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, around its leg ...

named Caesar Grimalkin in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

. The cat's owners, William Hazlitt Smith and Celia Smith, had the cat photographed and had Celia's sister-in-law, Charity Smith, paint a likeness of the cat onto a three-piece pattern designed by Celia. Although Grimalkin was a

polydactyl cat A polydactyl cat is a cat with a congenital physical anomaly called polydactyly (also known as polydactylism or hyperdactyly), which causes the cat to be born with more than the usual number of toes on one or more of its paws. Cats with this ...

with seven toes on each front paw, the Smiths felt that five toes appeared more normal and patented the "toy animal figure" in October 1892. The design was sold by the Smiths for one cent a yard to Arnold Print Works, which then sold the printed pattern as "The Tabby Cat" on half a yard of

muslin Muslin () is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It is commonly believed that it gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq. Muslin was produced in different regions o ...

for ten cents each in late 1892. Nearly 200,000 were sold that first holiday season. The toy was very successful nationwide, making appearances at the

1893 Chicago World's Fair The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ce ...

and in the windows of

Wanamaker's Wanamaker's was an American department store chain founded in 1861 by John Wanamaker. It was one of the first department stores in the United States, and peaked at 16 locations along the Delaware Valley in the 20th century. Wanamaker's was pur ...

department store in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The toy's success led to other stuffed animals, including kittens, dogs, and bunnies. The Ithaca Kitty was especially known for its lifelike appearance and was allegedly used by farmers to scare away birds and by the

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

police station to scare mice. Writer

Eugene Field Eugene Field Sr. (September 2, 1850 – November 4, 1895) was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. He was known as the "poet of childhood". Early life and education Field was born in St. Louis, Missouri ...

said that the calico cat in his poem " The Duel" was inspired by the Ithaca Kitty.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ithaca Kitty 1890s toys Individual cats in the United States Ithaca, New York Products introduced in 1892 Stuffed toys Toy animals

History

See also

References