The Great Blizzard of 1888

The winter of 1888 had been exceptionally mild — until a blizzard struck suddenly, changing the face of New York City and most of the eastern coast of the United States forever. It was the deadliest winter storm in U.S. history. They called it, "The Great White Hurricane."

Expanded version of History Guy Short published in 2019.

This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.

You can purchase the bow tie worn in this episode at The Tie Bar:

All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.

The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered is the place to find short snippets of forgotten history from five to fifteen minutes long. If you like history too, this is the channel for you.

Awesome The History Guy merchandise is available at:

Script by THG

#history #thehistoryguy #Winter

[rnedlo]

My great-grandmother was 12 and working in a factory at the time of the storm of '88. She was a small woman, so she must have been especially demure then. When done with work she tried to walk home. The snow was so deep it began to build up on her long overcoat, weighing her down to the point she felt she could not go on. She stepped into a doorway where the clumps of snow clinging to her coat bumped up against the door. Just at that time, someone living there was passing the door and opened it to find out what the sound was. They brought her inside, and the family took care of her until the storm passed. I never heard the name of the family, but I am sure grateful for their random act of kindness so long ago.

[kirkmorrison]

I knew a lady born in 1873, she went to my church, she said it covered the second story windows on one side. This was in Virginia. She passed away in 1975.

[rosemarycornwell]

My great grandfather, homesteading in northeastern what would become South Dakota, left his pregnant wife to take care of the farm animals during the blizzard there. He got lost and was never seen alive again. His body was found about 10 miles.from the farm in a farm shed in March 1889. His son, my grandfather, was born a few days after he disappeared.

[blamb]

My favorite humorous snow day sign was on a box filled with snow that read "Free Snowman (some assembly required)".

[michaeltuz]

New Englanders love to talk about the weather, and when I was growing up in Connecticut in the 1950s and 60s, the "Blizzard of '88" was the stuff of legends. Every year the New Milford (Connecticut) Times would run an article and photo spread commemorating that historic event ... an annual publication that would remind us all of just how bad a winter storm could be.

[stuartriefe]

I remember the blizzard of 1978. My friends and I were sitting oblivious to the weather in a pub, only to come out to completely buried cars parked on the street. We decided to dig out the one most likely to get us home safely, a trusty rear engine Volkswagen Bug. It was touch and go, but that bug got us to the friends house that was closest. We all stayed there and had the dubious pleasure of digging the other cars out the next day, plow buried and frozen over. Ahhh, the good old days…

[chrismcpherson]

My great grandmother was 11 years old and remembered it well. She said it was something to see in her writings. She said they had no school for 17 days.

[SgtMjr]

The March 4 '66 blizzard in Winnipeg was my first. I was horrified by my Dad's request to head out on a life or death errand to the pharmacy for, wait for it, a pack of smokes! Made it there and back, a whole 500 yards total and barely survived ( by my reckoning, the story gets more and more harrowing the older I get) the adventure.

[shelbybrown]

We had another few inches of snow here in Chicago heights Illinois last night and today, And as it sometimes happens everyone drove like they had never been in it before.

[banjoman]

My grandfather, a teller of great yarns told of his exploits during the Great Blizzard of 88’. After his death it was realized that he was but six months old during that event…great stories though.

[wholeNwon]

When I was growing up, old people would often talk about it.
The grandmother of one of our college professors and Whitman were great friends. Lilacs bloomed in her dooryard and there they would sip tea together.

[kirtliedahl]

Born, raised and living in North Dakota I can tell many stories about blizzards… if you haven’t experienced one, there is quite literally nothing like it. The moniker “Great White Hurricane” is exactly accurate! I can’t imagine what these poor people went through without conveniences (requirements?) such as snowblowers or snow plows. The human effort involved in getting the region back to working order must have been staggering.

[gooodiesu]

My dad though not living always spoke of this. The story passed down generations

[michaelshort]

My Dad's grandmother lived with us when I was very young. She told us about that January 1888 blizzard - she was 11 at the time. They were snowed in without an adequate coal supply, and her father had to go to the small Iowa town of Coalville (it's still there) for more. There was so much snow that it took him two weeks to make the round trip. You can drive from there old farm to Coalville and back in a half an hour today. I know that's not the same blizzard The History Guy is talking about (it's the Children's Blizzard) but it was the same period and shows how isolated they were - only a few miles out of a sizeable town.

[stevedietrich]

The greatest blizzard that I recall was the St. Patrick's Day blizzard of 1965 that dumped over 20 inches of snow, accompanied by heavy winds, across southern Minnesota (and probably neighboring states as well). The storm occurred on a Wednesday and school did not reopen until the following Tuesday. Fifteen foot snow drifts were not uncommon. With over 50 inches of snow in March alone, there was record setting flooding on the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers that spring.

[texaswunderkind]

8:45 - Part of state lore in Nebraska. Earlier in 1888, the "Schoolhouse Blizzard" hit the upper Midwest. With relatively warm weather, kids went to school normally that day. Temperatures dropped from just above freezing to well below zero, followed by heavy snow and hurricane-force winds. There were 235 fatalities, and many stories of young teachers in one-room schoolhouses struggling to keep the children save as conditions quickly worsened.

[jacko]

My great grandfather Isaac Pixley was a fireman on the Lehigh Valley Railroad during this blizzard. They were bringing a freight train into Easton PA when the train derailed over a clift. When rescue workers arrived they found my great grandfather trapped and a steam pipe broke cooking his leg. He asked to be shot because of the pain. Instead they made him drink a full bottle of whiskey, sawed his leg off, stuck it in the fire box to corderize the blood vessels. He lived and went back to work for the Railroad in the office and retired in 1925. You can find this story in the actives of the former Easton Express, now known as The Express Times. I have my great grandfather's Isaac Pixley retirement watch from the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

[Qrisqornellfan]

My great Grandmother was 12 during the blizzard of 1888. She lived in Newburgh NY at the time. She was 100 yrs old when she told us about this blizzard.

[JoseMorales-lwnt]

And to think, this was the proverbial straw that broke the transit hub's back! Having been born and raised in The Bronx, New York, I've heard old timers tell of their own grandparents recalling the 1888 storm. Essentially, this storm would drive NYC politicians towards creating an underground transit system. The NYC Subway System as we know it today, in part, owes its existence to this very storm!

[keithtorgersen]

Nebraska native and poet Willa Cather wrote a poem about the 1888 blizzard when it came through the MidWest.