Snowbanks on Madison Avenue

Since the blizzard has been quite the topic of conversation lately, we thought it might be a good opportunity to take a look back at New York’s legendary Blizzard of 1888. On March 12, twenty-one inches of snow fell in just under twenty-four hours which was exacerbated by gusts upwards of sixty miles an hour. The combination of snowfall and temperatures dropping to a few degrees above zero paralyzed the city for nearly two weeks.

As the pictures below demonstrate, one of the major problems caused was damage to overhead telegraph, electric and telephone wires. Despite state legislation in 1884 that those wires should be moved underground, New York was slow to respond. The calamity that ensued drove the point home and within a year, Mayor Hugh Grant finally ordered the wires buried.

Snow-laden overhead wires, Downtown.

Downed wires and lampost in Greenwich Village