That would be February 10, 1899, according to the next day’s New York Times headline—a day when the thermometer went from six degrees below zero at 6 a.m. to a relatively balmy six degrees above by 2 p.m.
Though the Times chronicled stuck ferries, house fires begun by overheated stoves (put out by firemen like the one at left, in an 1899 NYPL illustration), and men with mustaches “festooned with icicles,” much of the piece details the suffering of the poor.
“The really tragic side of all was seen in the charitable institutions and hospitals, which were filled to overflowing with the human derelicts beaten in during the night by the elements or found dying in the streets and taken to shelter by policemen.
“The biting west wind sought out every nook and cranny in the city and drove hundreds of half-starved and homeless wanderers to the shelters and charitable institutions and police stations.
[A line of homeless, hungry men outside the 25th Street Municipal Lodging House in 1917]
“There were 344 men, women, and children cared for during Thursday night at the city lodging house on East 23rd Street. The majority of the men had no overcoats. Some had only ragged undershirts on under their coats.
“The police have had orders for several days to watch closely for intoxicated men and women, or for persons in doorways and areas. . . . almost as many women were found as men, and not all had been drinking. Some will be maimed for life by the cold.”
Tags: Blizzard of 1899 New York City, Cold Days in New York City, Municipal Lodging House, New York in the 19th Century, New York's coldest day ever, rich and poor in New York City
Ephemeral New York 
January 27, 2011 at 4:09 pm |
The last time I remember temperatures in NYC that bad was in 1983 where it went to about 3 degrees below zero. That morning I gave a cup of coffee to a homeless man huddled in a doorway on Fulton Street in downtown Manhattan. He was wearing one of those silver space age blanket. He complained that he’d already had 8 cups of coffee that day offered to him and wanted some food. I got him an everything bagel to tide him over. He didn’t seem very grateful even for that.
As a side question I’d enjoy knowing who the photographer was for the line up of homeless men outside the 26th Street Municipal Lodging House.
January 27, 2011 at 4:52 pm |
Oh, forgot the lodging house credit: George Granthem Bain
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awpnp6/Bain_coll.html
8 cups of coffee and one bagel and it was still the a.m.? New Yorkers can be very generous.
January 28, 2011 at 6:37 pm |
[…] flashback to the city’s worst winter. February 10, 1899 [Ephemeral […]
February 9, 2013 at 3:15 pm |
My understanding is that February 9, 1934 was the coldest day in NY history at -15 degrees.
March 18, 2013 at 12:34 am |
[…] shelter Rivera depicted was the Municipal Lodging House, built in 1909 on a pier on East 25th Street for indigent men, women, and […]
November 24, 2016 at 7:53 am |
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