Burning of the City Hall New York, on the night of the 17th August 1858 – Supposed to have taken fire from the fire works exhibited in commemoration of the successful laying of the Atlantic telegraph cable

Lithographed and published by Currier & Ives American

Not on view

A fireworks display in 1858 led to the near destruction of New York’s City Hall. The occasion was the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable. When the USS Niagara arrived in Brooklyn from Newfoundland, where the cable came ashore in North America, New York responded by illuminating public buildings and shooting pyrotechnics over City Hall Park. Unnoticed sparks penetrated the metal covering of the dome and, by the morning of August 18, the roof was ablaze. Currier & Ives, with offices on nearby Nassau Street, quickly issued this hand-colored lithograph. Unfortunately, the cable itself also experienced problems and failed after three weeks.

Burning of the City Hall New York, on the night of the 17th August 1858 – Supposed to have taken fire from the fire works exhibited in commemoration of the successful laying of the Atlantic telegraph cable, Lithographed and published by Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907), Hand-colored lithograph

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.