On Nov. 9, 1965, 30 million people in the entire Northeast and parts of Canada lost power in one of the most massive blackouts of the time. Take a look back at photos from the dark night 58 years later.
On Nov. 9, 1965, a massive disruption in the electricity supply left millions without power for hours in Northeast states, as well as Ontario, Canada. Later dubbed the Northeast blackout of 1965, more than 30 million people were affected and left without electricity for up to 13 hours. 57 years later, take a look back at photos from the incident.
Around 5 p.m. on the cold November evening, New York City lost power and went completely black by sunset. Here, people are illuminated by emergency lighting as they sit, sleep and wander around the main waiting room of Grand Central Terminal on Nov. 9, 1965. At the height of the evening commute, thousands were stuck at the terminal as trains also lost power.
Commuters cram their way into a crosstown bus at 42nd St. and Third Ave., the only form of transportation that was still running during the massive blackout. Millions of commuters were forced to seek alternate transportation when train and subway service was kayoed.
Saleswomen from Gimbels department store get comfy on floor sample beds are they prepare to spend the night at work on Nov. 9, 1965. It was soon established that problems with the electrical grid caused the blackout, the first large-scale realization of infrastructure worries that would resurface in major blackouts in 1977 and again in 2003.
Commuters stranded by the power failure settle down for a long wait on the steps of an entrance to New York’s Commodore Hotel on Nov. 9, 1965. Transportation facilities out of Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station were knocked out by the blackout that darkened New York State, most of New England, parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and Ontario, Canada.
Two days later, the front page of the Daily News reads “Nobody digs power flop” and featured extensive coverage on the blackout.
Before the days of cell phones! Stranded New York workers wait patiently in a long line to use a phone booth to call home during the massive power failure of Nov. 9, 1965. The power in parts of New York State, most of New England, parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and Ontario, Canada was completely stalled for nearly 13 hours.
Commuters are pictured here being helped up from railway tracks by police and firemen in the early morning hours after being trapped for nearly eight hours during the blackout of 1965. The commuters were on a northbound train from New York’s Grand Central Terminal when the blackout occurred, leaving approximately 750 passengers stuck at 153 Street and Park Avenue.
A dark 42nd Street in New York City is seen here lit by floodlights and automobile headlights during the Northeast blackout of 1965. Most of the television stations in the New York metro area were forced off the air when the power shut down.
Passengers sit patiently in near-darkness in a stalled subway car at West 4th Street in Manhattan after the power went out on Nov. 9, 1965.
Stranded commuters crowd the ticketing and waiting room at New York’s Grand Central Terminal after the blackout halted train service and plunged tens of millions into darkness across the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada for hours. The electric clock in background gives the time of the power failure , 5:28 p.m., while the non-electric clock on the information booth remains in operation.
A policeman stands in front of a pawn shop in the Bronx after it was looted during the massive blackout on Nov. 9, 1965. Robbers ripped a gate open and broke the window to gather loot while lights and surveillance cameras were out.
Stranded commuters crowd the waiting area of the Long Island Railroad in New York’s Pennsylvania Station during the massive blackout on Nov. 9, 1965. While some parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan slowly regained power throughout the night, the entire power supply wasn’t back to normal into the next day.
The front cover of Time Magazine from Nov. 19, 1965, shows various images of people coping with the power outage as well as a dark street in Manhattan.
Manhattan skyscrapers and apartment buildings are dark shortly after 6 p.m. on Nov. 9, 1965, after the entire city lost power. In the foreground is the Hudson River with ships lighted by their own power systems. A full moon in the sky that night also helped to brighten up the gloomy situation.
Candles light the way for workers at the Crowell-Collier building on New York’s Fifth Avenue after the city was blacked out by a massive power failure on Nov. 9, 1965. The blackout was good in a sense that measures were taken to make sure it would never happen again on such a large scale.
The headlights of autos provide the only illumination as they move bumper to bumper along New York’s 42nd Street on Nov. 9, 1965. The blackout only resulted in one fatality but left 13 patrolmen hurt while helping the public in the dark.
This combination photo shows the Manhattan skyline photographed from the Queens borough of New York, in darkness on Nov. 9, 1965, top, and again shortly after the power came back on the following night. The nation had never seen a power failure of such scope before, and in New York, the nation’s communications capital, news organizations including The Daily News were stymied in finding out what happened and in getting the word out to the public.
