The northeastern United States suffered the impact of the March 1888 blizzard. Murphy mentions the storm's effect on several East Coast cities but concentrates on New York City and its surrounding neighborhoods. People were in shock as the storm descended, obliterating the landscape. Streets filled with drifts that reached to the second story of buildings. Some drifts were reported as high as eighty feet. Most people were unable to open their doors. Some people tunneled out in attempts to go to work or school. The Spuyten Duyvil cut was filled with ice and snow, trapping trains.

Grand Central Station was hauntingly empty.

Because transportation was stalled, many people walked home across the Brooklyn Bridge.

A few businesses opened hoping that customers would arrive, but most stores remained closed. Pedestrians often fell into drifts and had to be rescued by passersby.

Poor residents, mostly immigrants, lived in tenements that lacked...