On Dec. 16, 1835, a gale blanketed Manhattan with snow. The merchant Gabriel Disosway remembered how when night arrived it was “the coldest one we had had for thirty-six years.” Then at 9 p.m., members of the City Watch discovered a fire burning at Comstock & Andrews on Merchant Street. Officer William Hays recalled how…

The Great Fire of 1835 Helped Create Modern New York City