The golden anniversary of the Great Blizzard of 1888

Apr 22, 2025, 9 AM

U.S. Stamp Notes by John M. Hotchner

One of the more arresting cachets I’ve run across lately is on the 1938 cover shown nearby. It commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Great Blizzard of March 12-14, 1888, that affected New York City and its surrounding area.

The cachet says, “40 hours of snow, no traffic for a week. 20-foot drifts, harbor frozen, 20 dead.” Around the outside of the cachet is the following in red ink: “Sponsored by John Alden, born January 16, 1876, who as a school-boy 12 years of age, witnessed the Blizzard in all its fury at Jamaica, Long Island.”

What is stated on the cachet only begins to tell the story. The storm has been called “America’s greatest snow disaster,” and “the deadliest, snowiest, and most unusual winter storm in American annals.” According to an article on the Weather Underground website, “No storm of similar magnitude has occurred anywhere in the contiguous United States since. Over 400 perished including 200 in New York City alone, many literally buried in drifts in downtown Manhattan. On March 13, 1888, the temperature in New York fell to 6 degrees Fahrenheit during the storm – still the coldest temperature ever measured there so late in the season.”

The city was not the only area suffering. Again from the Weather Underground website: “The storm was even more severe in areas north and east of New York City. Fifty trains became stranded between Albany and the city, as well as on Long Island, in New Jersey, and in Connecticut. Many were derailed after trying to plow through drifts measured up to 38 feet in Connecticut … Many of the 200 fatalities attributed to the blizzard outside New York City consisted of passengers and train crews that attempted to walk to nearby towns after the trains became stalled or derailed.

“Snow accumulation was measured at 21 inches in Central Park, but 36 inches was reported in parts of Brooklyn and Queens. 58 inches was measured at Saratoga Springs, north of Albany, which itself received 47 inches.”

Among the lasting results of the storm was the impetus to plan a subway system for New York City. Also, the communications disruptions caused by the storm led to the burying of telegraph lines across many parts of the mid-Atlantic and northeast regions of the United States.

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