On this date in...

1886...Disaster is averted when the schooner "Phantom" rescues 400 passengers from the sinking ship "Oregon" in New York Harbor.

1888..."The Great Blizzard" finally ends, leaving New Yorkers to dig their way out of 20-foot snow drifts.

1893...The Waldorf Hotel opens on 33rd Street and Fifth Avenue. The luxury building is completed at a cost of $3 million.