Hurricane #4 (1893) aka "The Midnight Storm" passed directly over New York City and just 5 miles east of Central Park per the best track analysis as a Category 1 hurricane. Earlier, it brought Category 1 winds to a portion of eastern Virginia even as it passed offshore.
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August 24 0 UTC 36.8N 74.0W 350 deg 20 mph 33 kph 100 mph 160 kph -- mb Hurricane - Category 2
August 24 6 UTC 38.6N 73.9W 5 deg 20 mph 33 kph 90 mph 150 kph -- mb Hurricane - Category 1
August 24 12 UTC 40.7N 73.9W 0 deg 24 mph 38 kph 85 mph 140 kph 986 mb Hurricane - Category 1
August 24 18 UTC 43.0N 73.0W 15 deg 26 mph 42 kph 70 mph 110 kph -- mb Tropical Storm
August 25 0 UTC 45.4N 71.0W 30 deg 31 mph 50 kph 65 mph 100 kph -- mb Extratropical Storm 
In the wake of the hurricane, long-time Coney Island resident John Y. McKane recounted, "For fifty yeras I have lived at Coney Island and never have I seen a storm like this one." There, according to the August 25, 1893 issue of The New York Times "The waves swept in to a distance 600 feet back of the beach, and rose to a height of 30 feet. They swept over the elevated station to such a height that they caught and carried away a twenty-foot electric light, which stood near the end of the structure."
At Brooklyn, "Sweeping with full force over the wooded and gently undulating expanses of the City of Churches, the storm neglected no opportunity of doing harm to the property of its frightened inhabitants. It woke them from their peaceful slumbers with the roar of the wind and the crash of stately shade trees." Farther east, at Greenport on Long Island, "the wind was accompanied by a heavy fall of rain, and one terrific clap of thunder... Early in the morning the wind veered to the southeast and south, causing much damage to shipping between Orient Point and Riverhead."