How a blizzard changed New York

In March 1888 a surprise blizzard hit the entire East Coast. It left 21 inches of snow in NYC. Thousands of telegraph wires came down, and many people were trapped on the elevated trains. Some enterprising folks put ladders up to the trains and charged $10 to let people climb down.

Two results of all this: the wires were buried underground as quickly as possible and the first serious thoughts were given to creating a subway. Sixteen years later the subway became a reality.  It ran along happily during last night's snowstorm.