View source for Matilda the Harlem Goat

'''Matilda the Harlem Goat''' was almost Columbia's mascot. 

Owned by squatter Patrick Riley who lived in a shack on the northeast corner of 120th and Amsterdam, Matilda was often lent to Columbia students for hazing and pranks. When the [[Columbia Lion|Lion]] was suggested as a mascot for the school in [[1910]], some students suggested that Matilda the Goat held a closer place in Columbians' hearts than some metaphorical and royalist king of the jungle. Pretension won out, and the Lion was officially selected.

Matilda died in [[1914]], and received a proper funerial procession from Columbia students, who donned their [[academic regalia]]  and sang a dirge for the fallen beast, "A Harlem Goat." Thereafter, Charles Freidgen, owner of an eponymous drugstore across the street (now [[Hartley Chemists]]), acquired the remains, and had them stuffed and preserved. The goat remained on display in the store until its new owner, David Ratner, moved 2 blocks south to 118th street. The stuffed goat was cleaned up and put on display in the window in [[1954]]. In [[1956]], Matilda was featured in an eponymous children's book, in which she saved the day at a Columbia football game by headbutting the fullback who'd fallen asleep. Ratner's daughters closed the business down in 1960, with plans to donate the goat to the [[New York-Historical Society]]. A man from New Hampshire also expressed interest in the stuffed animal.

Matilda's fate is unknown.

== References ==

*Historical Society Will Probably Get Columbia's Goat, The Spectator, January 6, 1960
*Harlem Goat, Full of History And Stuff, Needs a New Home, New York World-Telegram, January 23, 1960

[[Category:Symbols]]
[[Category:Animals]]