Through rain, snow, wars and lockdowns, The Boston Globe's daily editions have been a point of continuity for more than 153 years.
But on Monday the paper's publisher made the "unprecedented decision" to let the presses go quiet amid a monster blizzard that has engulfed much of the northeastern U.S.
"We don’t take the decision lightly," vice president of print operations Josh Russell told the paper's own reporters.
"We’re not confident that even if we got a crew in tonight, that we could get the papers on our trucks safely. We weren’t confident that that last mile would be doable."
Industrial action has stopped the presses before in the 1950s and 60s, and the infamous Blizzard of '78 caused printed editions to get stuck in snow less than a mile from the printing press.
But according to the Globe's news team, this is the first time in history that executives have actually chosen not to print a daily paper.
Millions in New York City and much of New England were stuck at home under road travel bans and blizzard warnings on Monday night as heavy snow and strong winds created whiteout conditions in the most densely populated region of the country.
Snow fell at a rate of 2 to 3 inches an hour across the area, with some places getting well over a foot of snow since Sunday. Over 600,000 people were left without power and thousands of flights were canceled.
Founded in 1872, the Globe is one of the country's most storied news publications, especially for its Spotlight investigative unit – whose exposé of widespread child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy was adapted into the 2015 film Spotlight.
Yet with the Globe's printworks in Taunton, M.A. now at the epicenter of the bomb storm, and nearly 3 feet of snow burying the ground in some locations, the paper was already blocked from delivering roughly 75 percent of Monday morning's papers.
While the Tuesday edition will be written and laid out, it will only reach subscribers on Wednesday and will not be available in stores.
Russell told the Globe's news team that in previous storms, there had been "no question" as to whether the printers and drivers would come in.
Another company executive, Chris Johnson, said it had taken him nearly two hours to reach the plant even in his four-wheel drive vehicle. First he got stuck, then his rescuer got stuck, and then they both ran into a half-buried fire truck stuck on the railroad tracks.
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