Nellie was the feline mascot for the Van Pelt Manor Grammar School, also known as Public School No. 128 of Brooklyn. The school, pictured here a year after Nellie’s death in 1910, was constructed in 1901 on the former Egbert Benson farm at a cost of $120,000. Although Nellie made her home on 83rd Street and 21st Avenue in Van Pelt Manor, the teachers and students called her "the most popular feline in Coney Island." I don't know how many years Nellie hunted the corridors of the new school building, but when the mouser met her tragic end courtesy of two mean-spirited boys and a St. Bernard dog, there was much sorrow throughout the school community.

Before I tell Nellie's story, a brief history of Van Pelt Manor can help set the historical background for this tale. From about 1890 until the early years of the 20th century, Van Pelt Manor was the name of a small neighborhood in Brooklyn originally owned by the descendants of Teunis Jansen Lanen Van Pelt. Van Pelt had emigrated from Belgium in 1663 with his third wife and six children. The family settled in the colonial town of New Utrecht and eventually established a farm at what was then the town's village hub. In 1890, John Lott Nostrand of New Utrecht purchased the Van Pelt farm and obtained permission from the family to cut up the land into small building lots. Working with his brother, George Engelbert Nostrand, he built a new neighborhood of single detached homes that he called Van Pelt Manor. Today this neighborhood is part of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

The Van Pelt Manor house was built in 1686 (part of the house may have been erected by Jan van Cleef in 1664), on what was then called New Utrectht Lane (today's 18th Avenue) between 81st and 82nd Streets. Eight generations of the Van Pelts lived in the home. The last resident was Townsend Cortelyou Van Pelt, who deeded the house and surrounding grounds to the City of New York for one dollar in 1910 (which is about when this picture was taken). The home burned down in 1952, but the grounds are still maintained as a small city park called Milestone Park.

On the morning of November 23, 1910, two young boys, the Van Pelt Grammar School janitor, and several teachers appeared before Magistrate John E. Hylan at the Coney Island Magistrates Court. Flanked by an army of witnesses who all testified to "the exemplary conduct of the deceased during life," the unnamed janitor told the magistrate how much he had loved the school cat. Shedding briny tears "which pattered on the floor with a sound of rain on the roof," and wiping his eyes with a red bandanna, the janitor told Magistrate Hylan that Nellie was "the finest cat that was ever foaled." He added, "I mean that there never was such another cat, no never." There was reportedly not a dry eye in the courtroom as witness after witness told the judge that Nell was a great mouser who had been very faithful to the school. They all said that everyone in the school felt a personal sorrow when the cat was killed. "Nell would come so gently and quietly into the classroom, and no one would be aware of her presence until a little frantic squeak announced the death knell of a mouse," one teacher said between sobs. According to the janitor and the teachers, the school had been infested with mice ever since all of the cat's nine lives had ended. One teacher said she had to leap on her desk the day before in order to escape from a "marauding mouse."

"Nellie was a lady. Last night she died. Toll the bell for lovely Nell, Coney Island's pride."--Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 23, 1910 \[This vintage kitty is not Nellie] According to the testimony, Herman Miller and Mark Erdman, two young boys who resided in Bath Beach, were responsible for Nellie's death. One of the boys reportedly owned a large St. Bernard dog that had chased Nellie up a tree. Not only did the boys encourage the dog to torment the cat, they also allegedly shook the tree, causing the cat to fall down and succumb to the deadly canine attack. The judge asked the boys how close they were to the tree at the time of the incident. One boy said he was about 100 feet away, while the other boy said he was "as far as the Rocky Road to Dublin." The boys insisted that the dog had gotten loose and killed the cat on is own accord without any assistance from them. Magistrate Hylan dismissed both boys without charging them of a crime, but not after giving them a severe lecture. Inspector Grace of the Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was reportedly so moved by the janitor's testimony that he instantly offered to provide the school with a new cat. The inspector said he had a "slightly mildewed, show-worn cat" who was an excellent mouser that could easily conquer any rodent army. The janitor gratefully accepted the offer on behalf of the school.

The Original Schools of New Utrecht Prior to 1890, when development began in earnest, New Utrecht was a large stretch of woodlands with farms of various sizes scattered along roads at wide intervals (as seen in the 1852 map). Some of the larger farms of New Utrecht during the 19th century included those owned by the Van Pelt, Benson, Lefferts, Cowenhoven, Van Brunt, Wyckoff, Cropsey, and Suydam families. New Utrecht's village was centered around the intersection of the old Kings Highway (later called Main Street; today called Liberty Pole Boulevard / 84th Street) and New Utrecht Lane (present-day 18th Avenue).

New Utrecht's very first school was a "little red schoolhouse" that was established during the town's colonial era, sometime after the British seized control of New Netherland from the Dutch in 1664. Although there is some debate on the exact location of the school, several old published documents place it near the homes of Nicasius de Sille and John Lott Nostrand, both of which were near the old Dutch cemetery on Main Street (84th) and 16th Avenue. (The home of Nicasius de Sille, illustrated here in an 1830 pencil sketch, was constructed of stone and red roof tiles in 1658 by Jacob Hellakers, who also built the nearby Van Brunt home. The house was demolished in 1850.) According to "Reminiscences of New Utrecht and Gowanus," published by Mrs. Bleeker Bangs in 1912, George Washington came to visit the village school in 1790, and while he was there he patted young Peter Van Pelt on the head and told him to become a good man. Colonel William J. Cropsey, who attended the school in the 1830s, told Mrs. Bangs that the little schoolhouse had very hard wooden benches and only limited school supplies for the children who trekked two miles or more to the school from various locations throughout the large township.

Records in the New York Public Library archives state that the New Utrecht Reformed Dutch Church was established in the schoolhouse in 1677, although services were often held in private homes for about 20 years. Because the school was so closely associated with the church, the school master was tasked with leading prayers and teaching catechism. (Up until 1785, only Dutch was spoken in the church and the school). Eventually there was a semi-separation of church and state when a stone church was erected near the Dutch burial grounds in 1700, at what is now the northeast corner of 16th Avenue and 84th Street. This church stood next to the historical cemetery until 1828, when a new Reformed Church (extant) was constructed at the intersection of 18th Avenue and 84th Street (shown on this 1873 map). By 1873, New Utrecht's village had about two dozen houses in addition to a railroad station, store, and hotel. The Lecture Room next to the church was a wooden building that housed the church's Sunday school. This building was taken down to allow for the cutting through of 83rd Street.

At a special town meeting held in New Utrecht on August 12, 1813, three school districts were mapped out for New Utrecht. Residents of District One, which comprised the southeastern section of the town along Gravesend Bay, were served by the old village schoolhouse. Seventy years later, in 1883, the district selected a new site on 86th Street near 18th Avenue to erect a brand new school building for District One. This land was gifted to the trustees by Andrew Jackson Cropsey, who was then the largest property owner in New Utrecht. The new Public School of District No. 1, which could accommodate up to 200 students, opened in May 1884. R.H. Brush was the school's first principal. \[The sites of the old village schoolhouse near the Dutch cemetery and the new Public School of District No. 1 are shown on this 1890 map. Note that all the purple streets were paved; those streets in pale orange had yet to be opened. (Kings Highway is today's 84th Street.) All the land surrounding the old school was owned by Hans Curt Pfalzgraf, a real estate dealer who owned considerable land in the area. This land was sold at auction in 1897.]

Here is a letter to the editor from an one old-timer who recalled the move to the new public school (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1940). The writer is no doubt a descendant of Denyse Denyse, who ran a ferry from New Utrecht to Staten Island in the 1700s.

In 1890, six years after the new public school opened, St. John’s Reformed German Evangelical Lutheran Church was established. For three years, services took place in the Y.M.C.A. building next to the Reformed Dutch Church. Then in 1893, Reverend Lewis Happ purchased the little red schoolhouse near the old cemetery. According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, services were held in the schoolhouse until 1897, when it was sold and moved to an unknown location by the new owner. A new brick church was constructed on the site of New Utrecht's very first schoolhouse. The cemetery is just to the right of the church; the houses to the left are on the former property of Hans C. Pfalzgraf.

As the population of Van Pelt Manor continued to grow, a new grammar school was needed to accommodate all the children. The school district chose a lot on the former lands of Margaret Berry, who was the granddaughter of Egbert Benson (circled in red). At one time the Benson farm comprised about 240 acres. Susan Benson inherited some of this land along 21st Street from her father, and in turn bequeathed the land to her heirs, including her niece Margaret Berry, in 1886. In 1900, a contract was awarded to Rutan, Kenny, and Hemingham to construct the new school on this land at 21st Avenue and 83rd Street. The total cost to construct the 20-classroom school was $120,000.

Public School No. 128 is shown on this 1907 map. This part of Brooklyn was still very rural at this time, as noted by all the vacant lots and frame buildings surrounding the brick school. With so much vacant land surrounding the school, a good mouser cat like Nellie would have been a great asset.

Public School 128 looks very much the same today, albeit, there is no cat mascot.