Within minutes, 30 million people were in the dark. A power failure originating at a Canadian station near Niagara Falls spread the evening of Nov. 9, 1965, leaving most of the Northeast U.S. and parts of Canada without power for hours.
At its peak, the outage covered 80,000 square miles. In New York City, the plunge into powerlessness came at 5:27 p.m., at the height of the evening commute, trapping hundreds of thousands of subway riders in their train cars, stranding others in building elevators, wreaking havoc with traffic and forcing airplanes to divert.
In this Nov. 9, 1965, photo, New York City is seen in darkness from the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City during a power failure that left most of the northeastern United States and parts of Canada without power for hours. The buildings with lights had emergency power generators. (AP Photo)
Grand Central Station became an ad-hoc bedroom for commuters who couldn’t get home. For most of New York City, the brightest light available was that of the moon.
Largely, though, people remained calm, stepping in to help where they could, such as directing traffic. Hospitals were able to use generators to keep functioning. Over the next few hours, power came back — in Canada by 8 p.m., upstate New York by 9 p.m., Massachusetts by 10 p.m.
New York City waited the longest, with power starting to come back around 3:30 a.m. Nov. 10.
In this Nov. 10, 1965 photo, Arthur Exner, electrical engineer at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J., double checks the hospital’s emergency electrical generating equipment after a massive power blackout the previous evening plunged tens of millions into darkness across the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada for hours. It was soon established that problems with the electrical grid caused the blackout, and St. Barnabas authorities wanted to be extra certain any recurrence of electrical failure on the East coast would not affect the center’s operation. (The Star-Ledger via AP)
In this November 1965 photo, Superintendent of Schools Gerald V. Savage, left, meets with the Northvale Board of Education in Northvale, N.J., during a massive blackout that affected the northeastern United States and parts of Canada. November 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the blackout. (Northjersey.com via AP)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, Manhattan skyscrapers and apartment buildings seen from across the river in New Jersey are dark shortly after 6 p.m., during a massive blackout. In foreground is the Hudson River with ships lighted by their own power systems. (AP Photo/Phil Lane)
In this Nov. 10, 1965 photo, front pages of newspapers in London tell the story of the massive power failure that plunged the northeastern Unites States and parts of Ontario, Canada, into darkness, Nov. 9, 1965. Eight states were involved in the power outage that reminded some Britons of the wartime blackouts. (AP Photo)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, cars move slowly on 42nd Street in New York, after a massive blackout in the northeastern United States. The time lapse photo looks east, between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue. (AP Photo/Robert Goldberg)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, New Yorkers eat dinner by candlelight in an automat in Manhattan in New York during a massive blackout 50 years ago. (AP Photo)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, the view from the 52-story Prudential Tower in Boston, Mass., shows that not all parts of the city were plunged into darkness during the great northeastern power failure, fifty years ago. The John Hancock Building, center, Charlestown Navy Yard at left background, Boston Airport at center background and the South Boston Naval Annex at right all had emergency back-up systems in place and are lit. Copley Square is seen in foreground. (AP Photo)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, stranded commuters crowd the waiting area of the Long Island Railroad in New York’s Pennsylvania Station during a massive power failure that plunged tens of millions into darkness across the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada for hours. In New York City, it came at 5:27 p.m., the height of the evening commute, trapping hundreds of thousands of subway riders in their train cars, stranding others in building elevators, and turning Grand Central Terminal into an ad-hoc bedroom for commuters who couldn’t get home. (AP Photo/John Lent)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, stranded commuters crowd the ticketing and waiting room at New York’s Grand Central Terminal 50 years ago, after a blackout halted train service and plunged tens of millions into darkness across the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada for hours. (AP Photo)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, stranded passengers wait in a darkened airport terminal at the Newark International Airport in Newark, N.J., during the Great Northeastern Blackout 50 years ago. It came at the height of the evening rush hour and plunged tens of millions into darkness across the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada for hours, including New York, New Jersey, Boston and Toronto. (The Record of Bergen County via AP)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, the darkened Boston skyline is lit only by the full moon during a massive power failure that blacked out many sections of the northeast and parts of Canada, 50 years ago. The two brightly lighted streets are on Beacon Hill, still lit by gaslight. (AP Photo/J. Walter Green)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, passengers sit patiently in near-darkness in a stalled subway car at West 4th Street in the Manhattan section of New York, during the massive power failure that struck at 5:27 p.m., the height of the evening commute. (AP Photo/Jerry Mosey)
In this Nov. 10, 1965 photo, commuters are helped up from railway tracks by police and firemen in the early morning hours after being trapped for nearly eight hours when a massive power failure hit the northeastern United States and parts of Canada 50 years ago. 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. (AP Photo)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, a police officer wearing a reflective belt directs pedestrians and regulates traffic on Tremont Street at rush hour during a power outage in Boston. The power failure, originating at a Canadian generating station near Niagara Falls, spread across the Northeast U.S., and parts of Canada, leaving 30 million people without power for hours. (Judith Buck/The Boston Herald via AP)
In this Nov. 9, 1965 photo, people illuminated by emergency lighting sit, sleep and wander around in the main waiting room of New York’s Grand Central Terminal during the massive power failure that plunged tens of millions into darkness across the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada 50 years ago. (AP Photo/John Lent)
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AP Images is the world’s largest collection of historical andcontemporary photos. AP Images provides instant access to AP's iconic photos and adds new content every minute of every day from every corner of the world, making it an essential source of photos and graphics for professional imagebuyers and commercial customers. Whether your needs are for editorial, commercial, or personal use, AP Images has the content and the expert sales team to fulfill your image requirements. Visit apimages.com to learn more.
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