In the 1850s and 1860s, a brutal pastime called rat-baiting reached new heights in popularity in New York City. Basically, rat-baiting involved pitting a dog against a rat until they fought to the death. When the rats did not provide enough excitement for the mostly young sporting men and male tourists who came to these events, other animals including raccoons, badgers, pigs, and sometimes a bear would take the place of the rats. Oftentimes, champion dogs were pitted against other dogs. Sometimes the rats were pitted against men wearing heavy boots. One of the most popular dog pits was McLaughlin’s Dog Pit, which was located on the site of the old First Avenue Retail Market.

Rat-baiting events were not legal, but they were openly patronized and often advertised in publications like The New York Clipper, a weekly entertainment newspaper published in New York City from 1853 to 1924. James McLaughlin was one of the most famous breeders of champion rat-baiting dogs. From about 1854 to 1859, he held “canine exhibitions” at 155 First Avenue. Oftentimes his own terriers, including Whiskey and Princey, participated in the events. I doubt any of these people shopping at the First Avenue Retail Market on opening day in 1938 knew about all the blood that had been spilled on this site 80 years earlier.

The dogs at these “sporting” events were, for the most part, terrier breeds who were trained for about six months and sent into the pit when they were about a year old. Tickets were 25 cents, and collars and rats were provided for free for any man who wanted to put his dog in the pit (neighborhood boys were paid to catch the rats, at a rate of 5 to 12 cents each). Large dogs were pitted against 10 rats; smaller dogs had to fight off only 8 rats. Sometime in January 1855, a Russian bear named Dennis was reportedly baited at McLaughlin’s dog pit. Shortly thereafter, McLaughlin and 30 spectators were arrested. McLaughlin was charged with keeping a disorderly place and was held on $300 bail. In the 1860s, McLaughlin renamed his place Union Hall, which featured sparring events between only men.

Elected to office in 1934, Mayor Fiorello Henry La Guardia removed the city’s filthy, crowded open-air markets and First Avenue peddlers and their pushcarts. He used federal Works Progress Administration funds to build several indoor markets that had running water and loading platforms. In 1937, architects Albert W. Lewis and John D. Churchill were commissioned by the Department of Markets to design several of these markets, including the First Avenue Retail Market. Where once terrier dogs fought rats and bears to their death, there was now a bustling neighborhood market where merchants sold cheese (the rats would have loved that), vegetables, and other grocery products.