At dusk on November 9, 1965, one of the biggest power failures
in history occurred as all of New York state, portions of seven
nearby states, and parts of eastern Canada are plunged into
darkness.

The Great Northeast Blackout began at the height of rush hour,
delaying millions of commuters, trapping 800,000 people in
New York’s subways, and stranding thousands more in office
buildings, elevators, and trains.

Ten thousand National Guardsmen and 5,000 off-duty policemen
were called into service.

The blackout was caused by the tripping of a transmission line
near Ontario, Canada, at 5:16 p.m., which caused several other
heavily loaded lines also to fail.