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Flashback: Snowy Commute Circa 1888
By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 21, 2009
Modified Dec 21, 2009
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 21, 2009
Modified Dec 21, 2009
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Dreading your commute home? These old photos from the blizzard of 1888 should make you feel slightly better — after all, they include an illustration of NYPD officers rubbing snow on the frozen ears of passerby. Yikes!
The historic storm brought us around 25 inches of snow, 40 mph winds, killed 200 people, racked up $25 million in fire damages alone, and caused severe flooding (especially in Brooklyn). The NY Times reported on it at the time, noting that wardrobe was no help to pedestrians; "Never, perhaps, in the history of petticoats was the imbecility of their designer better illustrated. 'To get here I had to take my skirts up and clamber through the snowdrifts. With my dress down I could not move half a block,' said a wash-woman when she came to the house of the reporter who writes this." Think about that the next time you put on your high-tech snow gear.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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