In March 1888, an unprecedented blizzard hit the northeast, dumping 20 to 60 inches of snow on an unprepared New York City. Drifts measured 30 and even 50 feet in some parts of the region. Not only was the storm momentous, resulting in around 200 deaths in New York City alone, it had a lasting impact on the way the city functions today.
Work crews remove snow in New York City's Times Square following the Blizzard of 1888 in New York City. (Bettmann/CORBIS)
Carts haul snow and ice, cleared from city streets, to the river for dumping in the East River in New York. (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)
The awning of a grocery store is damaged from the weight of the snow during the blizzard of 1888 in New York City. The blizzard on March 12-14 paralyzed the city with about 40" of snow and winds that reached up to 60 miles per hour, creating drifts as high as fifty feet. (AP Photo)
A New York street is shown during the blizzard of 1888. The blizzard that occured March 12-14 paralyzed the city with 40" of snow and winds that reached up to 60 miles per hour, creating drifts as high as 50 feet. Telegraph and telephone poles and wires were downed and lay in the streets. (AP Photo)
Workers dig out the snow from underneath an elevated train line after the blizzard of 1888. (Bettmann/CORBIS)
As trains pass by on either side, a lone person walks across the Brooklyn Bridge after a blizzard left the bridge and tracks covered in snow, New York, New York, March 14, 1888. (Wallace G. Levison/Dahlstrom Collection/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Carts haul snow and ice, cleared from city streets, to the river for dumping in the East River in New York.(Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)
Pedestrians on site of the great blizzard in New York City. (Bettmann/CORBIS)
Snow covers a street and blows against a row of apartment houses surrounding Trinity Church during the Blizzard of 1888. The biggest storm to hit the eastern US in the 19th century. (Bettmann/CORBIS)
Men waiting at a railroad depot peer from behind a pile of snow after a snowstorm in New York City. (Bettmann/CORBIS)