On this date in...

1888..."The Great Blizzard" hits New York – eventually dumping more than 20 inches of snow on the city in just three days.

1957...Columbia University professor Charles Van Doren's celebrated 14-week winning streak on the NBC quiz show "21" comes to an end. Van Doren had started his run for the money by defeating defending champion Herb Stempl of Queens. Two years later, Van Doren admits in front of a Congressional subcommittee that the game show had been fixed. In 1994, the story of Van Doren and Stempl becomes the subject of the hit movie "Quiz Show."

1961...The Port Authority recommends the construction of a towering "World Trade Center" in Lower Manhattan. Ground is broken five years later.