Origin
Many accounts give different versions of the history of the name – Wall Street. The most popular and accepted one is that the name derives from de Waal Straat, what early Dutch settlers called the edge of their settlement. They had built a wall to protect themselves from the Indians, pirates and the British territories to the north. A path was formed along the wall which would later become a bustling commercial thoroughfare because it joined the banks of the East River with those of the Hudson River on the west. The path came to be called de Waal Straat or the Wall Street. Other accounts see a connection with ‘Walloons’ or ‘Waal’ a Dutch expression for its French-speaking population, many of whom were early settlers in the area.
That longstanding academic debate aside; It was originally used as a sheep pasture; owing to its natural topography of rolling hills and swampy meadows. In 1685 surveyors laid out the Wall Street along the lines of the original Wall. The wall started at Pearl Street, which was the shoreline at that time, crossing the Indian path – ‘Broadway’ and ending at the other shoreline (today’s Trinity Place), where it took a turn south and ran along the shore until it ended at the old fort. Early merchants built their warehouses and shops on this path, along with a city hall and a church. December 13th, 2011 was the 300th anniversary of the law establishing the first slave market in New York. That market was located at the end of Wall Street where present day Water Street is. The minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, vol. II, 458, December 13, 1711, states about a 1711 Law Appointing a Place for the More Convenient Hiring of Slaves. The fact is that New York’s first City Hall was built with slave labor. Slaves helped build the wall that Wall Street is named for. Slavery was such a big part of early New York that during the colonial era one in five people living in New York was an enslaved African.
Evolution
The city having fallen to the British and the wall, having fallen into decay, was demolished about the year 1699, and the stones were used in building the first City Hall, which stood at what is now the corner of Nassau and Wall streets, the site of the Sub-Treasury of to-day. This building was used for the various purposes of the city government until the close of the Revolution. It contained, besides the council and court rooms, a fire engine room, a jail for the detention and punishment of criminals, and a debtors’ prison, which was located in the attic, a cage, and a pillory. A pair of stocks were set up on the opposite side of the street, wherein criminals would be exposed to public scorn. After the close of the Revolution, the building was enlarged and improved for the use of the Federal Government. New York was the U.S. national capitol from 1785 until 1790 and Federal Hall was built on Wall Street. George Washington was inaugurated on the steps of this building. The first Congress of the United States assembled within its walls in the year 1789, and upon its spacious portico George Washington took the oath to support and defend the Constitution, as President of the United States. The street was originally taken up with private residences, but at length monetary institutions commenced to find their way into it. The Bank of New York was located here in 1791, at the corner of William street. Other institutions, and private bankers, soon followed it, and the work of improvement went on until the street of to-day is the result. Famous lawyers have also had their offices in this street. Alexander Hamilton’s sign might once have been seen here, not far from where his humble monument now stands in Trinity churchyard, and the name of Caleb Cushing is now to be found just a little below Broadway.
Making of a Financial Centre
The Dutch community developed a tradition of arranging and executing financial deals outdoors, with traders and auctioneers setting up shop on street corners. The Merchants’ Coffee House, at the southeast corner of Wall and Water streets, before the Revolution, was one of the meeting places of New Yorkers opposed to British imperial policy. During the 1780s, merchants and others met there to organize the Bank of New York and to reorganize the Chamber of Commerce. During the ratification process, supporters of the Constitution met and celebrated at the coffee house. The local merchants and traders would gather at disparate spots to buy and sell shares and bonds, and over time divided themselves into two classes – auctioneers and dealers.
In March, 1792, twenty-four of New York City’s leading merchants met secretly at Corre’s Hotel to discuss ways to bring order to the securities business and to wrest it from their competitors, the auctioneers. In the late 18th century, there was a buttonwood tree at the foot of Wall Street under which traders and speculators would gather to trade securities.The benefit was being in close proximity to each other. The agreement called for the signers to trade securities only among themselves, to set trading fees, and not to participate in other auctions of securities. The idea of the agreement was to make the market more “structured” and “without the manipulative auctions”, with a commission structure. Persons signing the agreement agreed to charge each other a standard commission rate; persons not signing could still participate but would be charged a higher commission for dealing. These twenty-four men had founded what was to become the New York Stock Exchange. The Exchange would later be located at 11 Wall Street.
In 1793 the locus for securities transactions in New York moves to the Tontine Coffee House,across the street from the Merchants’ Coffee House. Business is also transacted on the street. The creation of the Buttonwood Agreement, which bound its signatories to trade only with each other, effectively gave rise to a new organisation of tradespeople. Soon thereafter, it was decided that new premises were needed for the congregation of the allied brokers; the Tontine Coffee House was the result. Trading at the Tontine Coffee House continued until 1817. The growth of the Tontine’s trade proceedings had resulted in the creation of the New York Stock and Exchange Board (NYSEB) and necessitated a larger venue.
The first stock exchange in America was actually founded in Philadelphia in 1790. The New York merchant group, realizing that their stock exchange was now in decline after the early tumult of revolutionary war bonds and stock in the Bank of the United States, sent an observer to Philadelphia in early 1817. Upon his return, bearing news of the thriving Philadelphia exchange, the New York Stock and Exchange Board was formally organized on March 8, 1817. The NYSEB is recognised as the precursor to the present-day New York Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange in the world. The Tontine itself was transformed into a tavern by a John Morse in 1826, and a hotel by Lovejoy & Belcher in 1832. The New York Exchange Board had then mandated an organization to have a minimum of 100 stocks in order to trade in their exchange. Many of these new companies could not meet such requirements to be listed on the Board. A group of non-member brokers catered to the needs of these companies as they traded their stocks outside the registered exchanges. These brokers came to be known as the curbstone brokers, as they conducted their auctions out in the street. These brokers often traded stocks that were speculative in nature. With the discovery of oil in the later half of the 19th century, even oil stocks entered into the curb market. By 1865, following the Civil War, stocks in small industrial companies, such as iron and steel, textiles and chemicals were first sold by curbstone brokers.
In a growing country (and a neighborhood that expanded beyond its Dutch roots), many of these “curbside brokers” would eventually specialize in the stocks of turnpikes, canals, railroads and oil companies. Efforts to organize and standardize the market started early in the twentieth century under Emanuel S. Mendels and Carl H. Pforzheimer. In 1908, the New York Curb Market Agency was established, to codify trading practices. In 1911, the curbstone brokers came to be known as the New York Curb Market, which then had a formal constitution with brokerage and listing standards. After several years of outdoor trading, the curbstone brokers moved indoors in 1921 to a building on Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan. In 1929, the New York Curb Market changed its name to the New York Curb Exchange. Within no time, the Curb Exchange became the leading international stock market, listing more foreign issues than all other U.S. securities markets combined. In 1953 the Curb Exchange was renamed the American Stock Exchange.
Real Estate
The NYSE and the erstwhile Sub Treasury ushered in a great wave of companies related to Financial trade in to wall street. Over time the name Wall Street would become synonymous with the world’s biggest financial centres. 3 Most Important Buildings of Wall Street Trinity Church The first Trinity Church building, a modest rectangular structure with a gambrel roof and small porch, was constructed in 1698. According to historical records, Captain William Kidd lent the runner and tackle from his ship for hoisting the stones. Queen Anne of England increased the parish’s land holdings to 215 acres (870,000 m2) in 1705. The first church was destroyed in a fire, which started in the Fighting Cocks Tavern destroyed nearly 500 buildings and houses and left thousands of New Yorkers homeless. Construction on the second Trinity Church building began in 1788; it was consecrated in 1790. The structure was torn down after being weakened by severe snows during the winter of 1838– 39.
The third and current Trinity Church was consecrated on Ascension Day May 1, 1846, its 281- foot (86 m) spire and cross was the highest point in New York until being surpassed in 1890 by the New York World Building. When the present Trinity Church was its soaring Neo-Gothic spire dominated the skyline of lower Manhattan. Since its founding by charter of King William III of England in 1697, the Parish of Trinity Church has played a pivotal role in the religious life of this city and nation. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Trinity offered special ministries to meet the needs and hopes of successive waves of immigrants who poured into New York. The original burial ground at Trinity Church includes the graves and memorials of many historic figures, including Alexander Hamilton, William Bradford, Robert Fulton, and Albert Gallatin.
New York Stock Exchange
The first central location of the Exchange was a room, rented in 1792 for $200 a month, located at 40 Wall Street. After that location was destroyed in the Great Fire of New York in 1835, the Exchange moved to a temporary headquarters. In 1863, the New York Stock & Exchange Board changed to its current name, the New York Stock Exchange. In 1865, the Exchange moved to 10–12 Broad Street. The NYSE is the world’s leading and most technologically advanced equities market. The volume of stocks traded increased sixfold in the years between 1896 and 1901, and a larger space was required to conduct business in the expanding marketplace. Eight New York City architects were invited to participate in a design competition for a new building; ultimately, the Exchange selected the neoclassic design submitted by architect George B. Post. Demolition of the Exchange building at 10 Broad Street, and adjacent buildings, started on May 10, 1901. Eight New York City architects were invited to participate in a design competition for a new building; ultimately, the Exchange selected the neoclassic design submitted by architect George B. Post. Demolition of the Exchange building at 10 Broad Street, and adjacent buildings, started on May 10, 1901.
The new building, located at 18 Broad Street, cost $4 million and opened on April 22, 1903. The trading floor, at 109 × 140 feet (33 × 42.5 m), was one of the largest volumes of space in the city at the time, and had a skylight set into a 72-foot (22 m)-high ceiling. The main façade of the building features six tall columns with Corinthian capitals, topped by a marble pediment containing high-relief sculptures by John Quincy Adams Ward with the collaboration of Paul Wayland Bartlett, carved by the Piccirilli Brothers, representing Integrity Protecting the Works of Man. The building was listed as a National Historic Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 2, 1978. In 1922, a building for offices, designed by Trowbridge & Livingston, was added at 11 Wall Street, as well as a new trading floor called the Garage. Additional trading floor space was added in 1969 the Blue Room, and in 1988 the EBR or Extended Blue Room, with the latest technology for information display and communication. Yet another trading floor was opened at 30 Broad Street called the Bond Room in 2000. As the NYSE introduced its hybrid market, a greater proportion of trading came to be executed electronically, and due to the resulting reduction in demand for trading floor space, the NYSE decided to close the 30 Broad Street trading room in early 2006. As the adoption of electronic trading continued to reduce the number of traders and employees on the floor, in late 2007, the NYSE closed the rooms created by the 1969 and 1988 expansions. The Stock Exchange Luncheon Club was situated on the seventh
floor from 1898 until its closure in 2006.
Federal Hall National Memorial
It stands on the site of the Federal Hall built in 1700 as New York’s City Hall, later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America under the Constitution, and was the site of George Washington’s inauguration as the first President of the United States. It was also where the United States Bill of Rights was introduced in the First Congress. The building was demolished in 1812. The Federal National Memorial on Wall Street was built in 1842 as the New York Customs House, on the site of the old Federal Hall. It later served as a sub-Treasury building and is now operated by the National Park Service as a museum commemorating the historic events that happened there. The building housed Millions of dollars worth of gold and silver in the basement vaults until the Federal Reserve Bank replaced the Sub-Treasury system in 1920.
Other Important Buildings
1 Wall Street
It is a bank headquarters building which remains one of the finest Art-Deco-style skyscrapers in downtown Manhattan, New York City. It is located in the Financial District on the prominent
corner of Wall Street and Broadway. Today, it serves as the global headquarters of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. Construction on the building began in 1929 and was completed in 1931, to the designs of the architectural firm of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker. It is fifty stories and is 654 feet (199 meters) tall, and measures 1,165,659 rentable square feet.
23 Wall street
Designed by Trowbridge & Livingston and built in 1913, the building was so well-known as the headquarters of J.P. Morgan & Co. – the “House of Morgan” – that it was deemed unnecessary to mark the exterior with the Morgan name. The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1965, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Even though property prices in the area were very high, the Morgan building was purposely designed to be only four stories tall; the contrast to the surrounding high-rises is reinforced by the astylar exterior, rendered as a single high piano nobile over a low basement, with a mezzanine above, and an attic storey above the main cornice. The plain limestone walls are pierced by unadorned windows in deep reveals. The foundations were constructed deep and strong enough in order to support a forty-story tower should the need arise in the future. In 1957 the building was linked to neighboring 15 Broad Street, a 42-story L-shaped tower on a limestone base that tactfully echoes 23 Wall Street’s facade. In 1989, JP Morgan moved its operations to 60 Wall Street, a larger and more modern building two blocks to the east 23 Wall Street was extensively renovated in the 1990s as a training and conference facility for J.P. Morgan & Co. This building and 15 Broad Street were sold in 2003 for $100 million to Africa Israel & Boymelgreen. The two buildings have become a condominium development, Downtown by Philippe Starck, named for French designer Philippe Starck, one of a growing number of residential buildings in the Financial District. Starck made the roof of 23 Wall into a garden and pool, accessible to the residents of the development. Africa Israel gained full control of 23 Wall Street in 2007;; it was sold to a partnership of the China International Fund and Sonangol Group in 2008.
37 Wall Street
It was built as an office building on Manhattan’s Wall Street. It was designed by Francis Kimball and constructed during 1906-1907 for The Trust Company of America which occupied the ground floor. The building, completed in 1907, stands at 25 floors, plus a penthouse level that includes apartments and a terrace. No longer offices, the building has been converted/restored. It is now 373 rental apartments and a 7,700-square-foot (715 m²) commercial space for Tiffany & Co’s return to Lower Manhattan. The amenities for its residents include a well-equipped gym, a lounge with pool tables and a screening room, as well as the roof-top terrace.
40 Wall Street
The building was designed by H. Craig Severance. It was very briefly the tallest building in the world; Its pinnacle reaches 927 feet (282.5 m). Although it was soon surpassed by the Chrysler Building finished later in the same month. In 1982, Joseph J. and Ralph E. Bernstein purchased 40 Wall Street and were later found to be acting on behalf of Ferdinand E. Marcos, the late President of the Philippines. In 1995, after years of neglect, 40 Wall Street was bought by Donald Trump and later renamed The Trump Building. He planned to convert the upper half of it to residential space, leaving the bottom half as commercial space. However, the cost of converting it to residential space proved to be too high, and it remains 100% commercial space.
48 Wall Street
Once known as the Bank of New York Building was built in 1928 on land used by the bank since 1797, on the corner of Wall Street and William Street in New York City’s Financial District.[1] Its former banking hall has been modified to house the Museum of American Finance, which moved there in October 2007. Immediately outside is the entrance for the Wall Street subway station (2 3 trains) on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line.
Current Real Estate Market
Since the economic crisis began the rents for buildings at the one-time heart of global finance have fallen to among the lowest in Manhattan after ranking as some of the most expensive as recently as 2008. By early 2011, Wall Street landlords were seeking rates about 18 percent less than the city average, hurt by years of exodus by financial firms looking for bigger, more modern offices. The Wall Street is now home to residences, architectural/engineering firms and media companies along with the securities firms that long dominated the area because of its proximity to the New York Stock Exchange at the corner of Wall and Broad. Now, since all trade happen electronically the need to be close to the exchange is no longer there. This alone and the requirements of modern banking practices have resulted in banks and other financial institutions moving out of Wall Street. The changes in the way financial trade was carried out resulted in the creation of Wall Street as we know it today. Now, owing to the very same reason, although in a very different manner, changes in financial trading business is affecting the character of Wall Street again. Like all places Wall Street also will evolve along with time adapting to the developments of the city and its economy in the years to come.
References:
– Durst Archives
– www.pbs.org
– New York Times
– www.bloomberg.com
– www.wikipedia.org