The Great Blizzard of 1888

Study Notes

• In the winter of 1888, the U.S. East Coast experienced a mild winter, with temperatures as high as 50 degrees in early March, causing trees to bud and robins to return to the city.

• Walt Whitman, the celebrated poet, submitted a poem called "The First Dandelion" to the New York Herald on March 10th, which was published on March 12th, ironically coinciding with the Great Blizzard of 1888.

• The Great Blizzard of 1888 struck on March 11th, bringing unseasonably cold air from the Arctic and warm wet air from the Gulf, resulting in heavy snowfall, high winds, and temperatures plummeting to below freezing.

• The storm caught the nation's weather service off guard, with no warning given to the public, and the weather forecast predicting only light rain for March 11th.

• The blizzard caused widespread disruptions, including commuter trains stalling due to ice and slick rails, and thousands of people being stranded in trains and stations.

• Enterprising New Yorkers took advantage of the situation, offering ladders to help people down from elevated trains for a small fee.

• Roscoe Conkling, a former U.S. Senator and aspiring presidential candidate, attempted to walk three miles home from his office on March 12th but got stuck in Central Park and later contracted pneumonia, dying six days later.

• The blizzard caused numerous fatalities, including a woman found frozen to death in a snowdrift, a lightman run down by a train, and a young lad struck by a falling tree branch.

• The Great Blizzard of 1888 had the highest death toll of any winter storm in U.S. history, killing around 400 people along the East Coast, with 200 fatalities in New York City alone.

• The blizzard affected a vast swath of the East Coast, including Philadelphia, New York, and Maine, with telegraph communication almost entirely cut off, and railroad travel suspended.

• The storm was unique due to the combination of heavy snow, high winds, and extreme cold, with snowdrifts reaching as high as fifth-floor windows in some areas.

• The blizzard even made international headlines, with the Yorkshire Herald in North Yorkshire, England, noting the stock exchange stopping business due to the storm.

• The Great Blizzard of 1888 exposed the vulnerabilities of modern cities, which had become dependent on above-ground infrastructure such as telegraphs, telephone lines, and gas heating, which were easily damaged or destroyed by the storm.

• The blizzard led to a reevaluation of city infrastructure, with many cities subsequently moving their utility lines and wires underground, and motivated the construction of the nation's first subway systems, including the one in Boston in 1897.

Description

Test your knowledge of the devastating storm that hit the U.S. East Coast in 1888, causing widespread destruction and loss of life. Learn about the storm's impact on cities, infrastructure, and daily life. Discover how the blizzard led to significant changes in city planning and development.