With the opening of the Erie Canal, New York seemed to realize that it was destined to become a giant, and began to reach out in every direction. By 1828, the Delaware and Hudson Canal gave it access to the rich coalfields of Pennsylvania. In 1832, ground was broken for the New York and Harlem Railroad. The first horse-cars traveled from Prince to Fourteenth Street in that year, and five years later their tracks reached Harlem1. New York was basically on the rise to become the great city that it now is. .
It was in the middle of the night in silent New York City when the smoke from a five-story warehouse alarmed Watchman Hayes as he passed by the corner of Exchange and Pearl Streets. This was the night of December 16,1835, where the coldness of winter has covered the city with white.
Early in the morning of December 17, 1835, citizens awoke to find a sky filled with smoke and flames. The tempestuous winds were howling through the snow-clad streets as the people below City Hall were suddenly startled by an alarm of fire. Upon looking out they saw a volume of lurid light streaming into the sky below Wall Street. The City Hall, jail house, and churches rung their bells to notify the city but " within fifteen minutes, fully fifty of the area's tightly packed buildings were ablaze."2 .
Although the city had more than doubled its size after the cholera incident in 1823, there were still shortages of firefighters due to the fact that it was a volunteer task.3 There were only approximately fifteen hundred firefighters at the time and they were not paid for their efforts. Firemen hastened to the scene of the conflagration. Even though they spent the previous night fighting two bad fires, they still had to answer to the city's cry for help. The hydrants were frozen so the water could only be obtained from the river. The cold winter atmosphere had attacked the water before it was available to put out the fire.
