Pets, Pets, Pets
by Joanne Anderson

In top photo, Westminster clubhouse sketch that appeared in Harper's Weekly 1892. Inset. Ewell family at Babylon clubhouse, circa 1910-1916.

New Year's Day 1887: Westminster Kennel Club invited members and their guests to a "holiday" pigeon shoot at their fancy clubhouse in Babylon. A special train left LI City on arrival of the 9 AM boat from E. 34th Street Participants were met by horse drawn carriage at Babylon Station, and assured they'd be back in NYC by 5 p.m.- such precise transportation that certainly beats the LIRR today; yet 121 years later; I'm still trying to find precisely where the Babylon Westminster clubhouse was. So many clues; so many clues that conflict.

This Feb. 27, 1892 Harper's Weekly sketch by G. Muss-Arnolt, a well-known artist and dog show judge, places the Westminster clubhouse right near Southard's Pond. (See the rabbit staring at the water in the lower right hand corner.) The smaller building to the left is the shooting house. Between that and the clubhouse is a most significant flagpole with positioning that matches other known photos of the clubhouse. Bull's eye- "Sensation", Westminster's famous logo Pointer was buried under that flagpole in June 1887, just 6 months after the New Year's Day shoot.

German-born artist Gustav Muss- Arnolt (1858-1927) specialized in oil paintings of sporting dogs in the field. He also wrote, illustrated and photographed several articles for Harper's Weekly. More than 170 of his dog portraits were published in the AKC Gazette. In the early 1900s he was on the Board of Directors of the American Kennel Club which now owns a collection of his oils. Muss-Arnolt exhibited his own Pointers at Westminster and, as an "all round" judge, was on the panel that chose Westminster's Best In Show in 1913 (a Bulldog) and 1922 (an Airedale).

Besides the Babylon clubhouse (which fire destroyed, some yet-to-be-determined date in the 1920s) within this 1892 Harper's piece, Muss-Arnolt also included detailed drawings of the kennels, Pointers, huge dining room, hall, dog food prep room, and James Mortimer- Westminster Superintendent of both the Babylon kennels and the prestigious dog show at Madison Square Garden. Oh, yes, busy host, Mr. Mortimer, often picked up the Westminster visitors at Babylon Station.

Poster Pet Guy, Shepherd mix

David Frei, Westminster's TV commentator, and I traded treasures. He gave me this article after I sent him copies of old Babylon photos from the Ewell family who purchased the 64 acres with the clubhouse, farmhouse, and kennels from Westminster in 1904. I'm ecstatic about the placement of Muss-Arnolt's pen and ink pond, for it seems to match the clubhouse on 1902 and 1915 Hyde Atlas maps and my tentative locations in the woodsthe strange sandpit aligned with Gwynn St. and the flat area down from Pilcherbut jumping (for joy) to conclusions doesn't make it so. Is the pond proximity in the clubhouse sketch accurate…did Muss- Arnolt draw it from a photo he took... or is it "artistic license"? Other historic maps put the clubhouse further back from the water's edge. If only the Harper's also contained a Muss-Arnolt clubhouse photo.

In the mean time, let's look closely at a newly discovered photo. This picture (circa 1910-1916) is borrowed from the family of James L.Ewell the next owner of the Westminster property. The sunburst gable over the porch is a distinct feature. (Compare it to the archived Beacon "Pets" 3/ 15/07 photo of the whole clubhouse.) I can only identify the young boy-Birchard Bennett, a Ewell cousin from Connecticut and the dog- Teddy. Now draw an imaginary arrow on a diagonal from the smiling lady's ankle, and we should soon hit Southard's Pond. Throw a ball on a diagonal left and tell Teddy to fetch, and he should reach "Sensation's" grave. That is, if in 1892, G. Muss-Arnolt decided to draw the precise Babylon setting.

"Pets, Pets" Goes to the Garden: I'm excited to report that a version of my 2/8/07 "Pets" (also archived at babylonbeacon.com), the first of nine Babylon Westminster research columns, will appear this February in Westminster Kennel Club's 2008 Dog Show Media Guide Book, type set in traditional "Westminster purple". No other color would do.

For Adoption: "Guy" this young Shepherd mix at Babylon Town Shelter (643- 9270) Lamar St. W. Babylon is ringing in 2008 in hopes that he , along with his fellow shelter pets, will find loving homes and have a brighter New Year. "Guy" in Cage 29 thinks belly rubs are delightful.

Male Dogs: Shih-tzu- came in extremely matted; great while being groomed, loves people but not other animals; "Huckleberry Hound" Cage 9; "Rudolfo"- tan Shepherd mix Cage 39.

Female Dogs: "Ms. Dingo" Cage 57; spayed Rottie mix Cage 63; "Natasha"- Spaniel/Shepherd Cage 51.

Cat Contingent: "Faith"- super-friendly tabby in the Cat Colony; "Spice Kitties"- orange sweeties in the lobby; "Shortie"- tortie with partial tail in C-2.

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