August 10, 1884 Earthquake: Rockaway Beach, near New York City, New York, United States

Reference #542:

The severe earthquake affected an area roughly extending along the Atlantic Coast from southern Maine to central Virginia, and westward to Cleveland, Ohio. Chimneys were knocked down and walls were cracked in several States, including Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Many towns from Hartford, Conn., to West Chester, Pa., reported fallen bricks and cracked plaster.

Property damage was severe at Amityville and Jamaica, N.Y., where several chimneys were overturned and large cracks formed in walls. Two chimneys were thrown down and bricks were shaken from other chimneys at Straford, Conn., water in the Housatonic River was agitated violently. At Bloomfield, N.J., and Chester, Pa., several chimneys were downed and crockery was broken. Chimneys also were damaged at Mount Vernon, N.Y., and Allentown, Easton and Philadephia, Pa. This earthquake was also reported felt in Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

Three shocks occurred; the second was the most violent. Several slight aftershocks were reported on the next day.

Reference #13657:

This is the first known earthquake in the northeastern U.S. for which deaths attributed to the earthquake are included in the historical accounts. One of the deaths was reported on August 16 from Kingston, New York, in the August 17, 1884, issue of the New York Times, which bore the headline “KILLED BY THE EARTHQUAKE.” The article reads, “Henry Brown, aged 72 years, died here this morning. Last Sunday afternoon Brown was in his wood shed at the time of the earthquake shock. He trembled violently and shivered like as aspen leaf. He sat down under a tree nearby, thoroughly frightened. He got up to walk, but his legs refused to carry him far. At night when he went to bed his whole nervous system appeared shattered. Despite medical assistance he never rallied. He retained consciousness up to the evening before his death, suffering terribly.”

The August 12, 1884, issue of the New York Times contains the following report from Plainfield, New Jersey, of another death attributed to the earthquake: “Mrs. Charles Scheler, who had been sick for two weeks with the chills, was so affected by the earthquake shock here yesterday afternoon that she died in a few hours.”

The New York Sun included a report from Hartford, Connecticut, indicating that a man there was killed by the earthquake. No other details are given, but the New York Times also had an item about a death in Hartford due to the earthquake. The circumstances surrounding this death are explained in the Times as follows: “At the County Jail the prisoners were wild with fear and attempted to burst in the doors to escape. Their howlings could be heard for some distance. A prisoner named Doyle endeavored to break out, and died from fright occasioned by the earthquake.”

The best estimates of the epicenter of the earthquake have put it somewhere in the Rockaway Park area of Long Island. The epicenter might have been in Jamaica Bay just north of Rockaway Park or in the Atlantic Ocean just south of Rockaway Park. Estimates of the magnitude of the earthquake based on its damage area and total felt area range from 5.0 to 5.3, with the most recent study favoring the latter number. (reference #13657)