The night New York City went dark

On July 13, 1977, around 9:36pm, the Con Edison power system shut down, plunging New York City into darkness. The blackout that hit in the mid-evening was the result of lightning strikes on electrical equipment that caused power to fail.

The power outage left travelers stranded in Grand Central Station as public transportation shut down, caused a New York Mets game at Shea Stadium to end in the sixth inning, and forced the closing of the New York Stock Exchange the following day. Tunnels to Manhattan were closed because ventilation fans were inoperable without electric power. Restaurants and bars that remained open served patrons by candlelight. Declaring a state of emergency, Mayor Beame urged all who did not have vital business in the city to stay home.

By the time that electricity was restored about 25 hours later, widespread looting and chaos had broken out throughout the city. Firefighters in the Bronx and Brooklyn battled fires raging in stores that had been looted.

Below is a selection of archive photos in recognition of the 40th anniversary of this historic event.

The New York City skyline is shown during the blackout of July 13, 1977. (AP Photo)

Commuters wait at empty ticket windows at Grand Central Station in New York City, early on July 14, 1977, as trains were canceled by the electric power failure that affected most public transportation in the city. (AP Photo/Carlos Rene Perez)

People in a midtown Manhattan bar keep drinking by candlelight in New York on Wednesday, July 13, 1977 after the city was struck by a power failure. (AP Photo/Steve Oualline)

The World Trade Center stands out against a blackened New York City skyline after a power failure struck the city, July 14, 1977. Lightning striking a power station is blamed for the blackout. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)

The lights of lower Manhattan are dark as a result of an electrical power failure in this view from under the Brooklyn Bridge on Wednesday, July 13, 1977. One building at left is lit with emergency power and a stream of light comes from the headlights of moving vehicles on the FDR Drive and on the bridge. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine)

New York's Shea Stadium lies in darkness during the bottom of the sixth inning after the lights went out during the game with the Chicago Cubs, July 13, 1977. The Mets were not the only ones blacked out as it appeared the power failure affected most of New York City. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine)

People in a midtown Manhattan bar keep drinking by candlelight in New York on Wednesday, July 13, 1977 after the city was struck by a power failure. (AP Photo/Steve Oualline)

People huddle against the information kiosk in New York's Grand Central Station, Thursday, July 14, 1977 after being stranded by a power failure in the city, its boroughs and some neighboring areas. Grand Central is a crossroad for commuter trains and subways. The clock on the kiosk has the correct time, but the clock at upper left stopped when the power failed on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Steve Oualline)

This is an aerial view from New York's borough of Queens, looking toward midtown Manhattan, showing a virtually deserted Long Island Expressway and entrance to the Midtown Tunnel, July 14, 1977, in the wake of last night's massive power failure. Tunnels to Manhattan were closed because ventilation fans were inoperable without electric power. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)

A midtown, Manhattan restaurant moved its tables and customers to the sidewalk, July 14, 1977, after a massive power failure in New York City cut off electricity inside. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)

Using emergency power, staffers on the Associated Press general desk plan coverage of the blackout in New York City, July 13, 1977, in New York. Clock at upper right shows time power went out at AP. (AP Photo/Cameron Bloch)

New York's Wall Street is deserted Thursday, July 14, 1977, after a massive power failure that lasted overnight from Wednesday forced the closing of the New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo)

A doorman on New York's Gramercy Park arms himself with a nightstick as a preventative measure following the blackout of New York, July 14, 1977. Looting was continuing in the city Thursday. (AP Photo)

The owner of midtown Manhattan coin shop sits disconsolately in his doorway in New York on Thursday, July 14, 1977. The steel gates protecting the shop were ripped down by looters. "They sure cleaned me out," he said. (AP Photo/Sandy Colton)

The subway platform at 50th Street under Rockefeller Center was empty of travelers at 5 P.M., July 14, 1977, when it would normally be jammed with rush hour commuters. Subway service in New York City was only partially restored by 5:30 P.M. in the aftermath of the massive power failure which hit the city last night, July 13. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)

People peer into a looted store on 110th Street at Lexington Ave. in Manhattan the day after the power failure in New York, July 14, 1977. (AP Photo)

Firemen battle flames at a store in the Bronx borough of New York, one of many fires that broke out during the massive power failure that crippled the city for more than 24 hours, seen July 14, 1977. Firemen answered 1,500 alarms, 400 of which were actual fires. Forty of the fires were termed serious. (AP Photo)

A street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn is full of people and debris, July 14, 1977 following last night's massive blackout in New York City. (AP Photo)

Firemen fight a blaze above a row of looted stores in New York's Brooklyn borough, July 14, 1977, the day after the power failure. The stores were looted during blackout. (AP Photo)

This is the aftermath of looting on 110th Street and Third Avenue in the East Harlem section of Manhattan, New York City during the power failure, July 14, 1977. (AP Photo/Ira Schwarz)

Looters in Manhattan's Harlem section reach past a bent security gate to ransack the window of a shoe store in New York on Thursday, July 14, 1977. A massive power failure in the metropolitan New York area on Wednesday led to acts of vandalism in some parts of the city. New York Mayor Abraham Beame said some 2,000 people were arrested. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey)

An inmate cleans up mess at the Bronx House of Detention in New York on Thursday, July 14, 1977. Corrections officials said inmates caused damage in three dormitories during the electric power failure that struck New York on Wednesday, July 13. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)

The lights of lower Manhattan shine across New York's East River in this nighttime view from under the Brooklyn Bridge on July 14, 1977. Power has been restored in about 90 percent of the city, 24 hours after a city-wide electrical blackout. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine)

New York Mayor Abraham Beame, center, walks with shopkeepers and newsmen through looter-ravaged areas in New York's Bedford-Stuyvesant district on Friday, July 15, 1977. The area was one of the hardest hit by looters during Wednesday and Thursday's power outage in metropolitan New York City. (AP Photo)

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Text and photos edited by Kathleen Elliott

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