-
The Adoption of the name
Before New York City became a city, there was a wall. The wall was built in lower Manhattan to protect the island from British Attacks, and the road alongside the wall was named Wall St. -
The Layout
In 1685, surveyors laid out Wall Street as the original as the original stockade. This wall started at Pearl Street, and, in the early days, merchants would gather and sell bonds and stocks. -
The Street of the First Inauguration
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 secret meeting
On 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. -
The Signing
On May 17,1792, these merchants signed a document named the Buttonwood Agreement, named after their traditional meeting place, a buttonwood tree. The Buttonwood agreement called for the signers to trade securities only among themselves, to set trading fees, and not to participate in other auctions of securities, which would eventually lead to the creation of the NYSE. -
The Creation of the New York Exchange
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 exchange grows into New York
The exchange rented a room at 40 Wall street and every morning the president, Anthony Stockholm, read the stocks to be traded. The exchange was an exclusive organization, new members were required to be voted in, and a candidate could be black-balled by three negative votes. In 1817 a seat on the exchange cost $25, in 1827 it increased to $100, and in 1848 the price was $400. Members wore top hats and swallowtail coats. -
The brginning of the Dow
In 1884, Charles H. Dow began tracking stocks, initially beginning with 11 stocks, mostly railroads, and looked at average prices for these eleven.[25] When the average "peaks and troughs" went up consistently, he deemed it a bull market condition; if averages dropped, it was a bear market. He added up prices, and divided by the number of stocks to get his Dow Jones average. Dow's numbers were a "convenient benchmark" for analyzing the market and became an accepted way to look at the entire stoc -
The expansion of the Dow
In 1889, the original stock report, Customers' Afternoon Letter, became The Wall Street Journal. Named in reference to the actual street, it became an influential international daily business newspaper published in New York City.[26] After October 7, 1896, it began publishing Dow's expanded list of stocks with about 30 stock on the average. -
The Wave of Panic
After J.P Morgan made a merger with U.S Steel in 1901, a wave of panic had hit Wall Street in 1907. Eight hundred million dollars in securities were unloaded within a few months. Stock prices plummeted and runs on banks became a daily occurence. When the Knickerbocker Trust Company was forced to close its doors a panic swept banks throughout the country. Morgan pressured the leading New York bankers to forestall a total financial collapse of the country. They set up a single banking trust, with -
Turbulant reltionships with the government
In 1913, when authorities proposed a $4 tax on stock transfers, stock clerks protested. At other times, city and state officials have taken steps through tax incentives to encourage financial firms to continue to do business in the city. Corporate culture towards the government was turbulant and stressful. -
The Bombing Outside the Bank
On September 16, 1920, close to the corner of Wall and Broad Street, the busiest corner of the financial district and across the offices of the Morgan Bank, a powerful bomb exploded. It killed 38 and seriously injured 143 people.[32] The perpetrators were never identified or apprehended. The explosion did, however, help fuel the Red Scare that was underway at the time. -
The big crash of 1929
In September 1929 was the peak of the market.[35] On October 3, 1929 was when the market started to slip, and it went throughout the week of the 14th.[35] In October 1929, renowned Yale economist Irving Fisher reassured worried investors that their "money was safe" on Wall Street.[36] A few days later, on October 24,[35] stock values plummeted. The stock market crash of 1929 ushered in the Great Depression in which a quarter of working people were unemployed, with soup kitchens, mass foreclosure -
Rock bottom
After weeks in freefall, the market hits its bottom and stabilizes. The New York Times reports, “Regular Schedule to be Resumed, but Trading Will Be Suspended Last Half of Week; Business Nearly Normal.” The market’s daily volume is at 3 million shares with “orderly although irregular” prices. -
Rock Bottom
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest point of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22, down 89 percent from its peak in 1929. The peak of the Dow in 1929 was 381.17, and grew in a bull market for eight years. The lowest point was when every bought out their shares at the same time. -
Regulation
On October 1, 1934, Wall street faces drastic restructuring. The Securities and Exchange Commission is created to regulate stocks, bonds and other commissions. Kennedy patriarch and former Wall Street speculator Joseph P. Kennedy is appointed as its chairman. -
Women equal rights
Before 1943, women were never allowed to enter the trading floor if the New york Stock Exchange. In 1943, women were allowed to work on the trading floor of the NYSE, marking new employment opportunities for women. Mueriel Sibert was was the first woman who earned a seat into the NYSE. -
Wall Street becomes the Financial Capital of the World
After the bombing of Japan, the country formally surrenders to the U.S., ending World War II. The United States is now has more global trading than ever. The U.S. enters a new era of prosperity, with New York City becoming a global financial and cultural capital. -
S&P 500 was born
On March 4, 1957 the Standard & Poor 500 Index is introduced. Computer technology allows the S & P 500 to calculate and report market levels at one-minute intervals throughout the day. The Index's weighting method was by using the Free-Float-Capitalization method. -
Assasination stimulation
Panic selling was a pivotal moment after the asassination of Presisident John F. Kennedy. After the assasination of President John F. Kennedy, Wall Street cloesed immediately after the stock exchenge the former president was asassinated. This method was to prevent another crisis. -
More Americans own stocks
The NYSE's census reported that in 1962 more Americans owned stock than in 1952. In 1952, only 7 million Americans had owned shares. In 1962, 17 million Americans owned stock. A 10 million people increase in 10 years. -
The NASDAQ was Born
The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (N.A.S.D.A.Q.) opens its first day of trading. The NASDAQ became the world’s first electronic stock market. The exchange currently list 2,975 companies, and has a market cap of about $8.5 trillion. -
The 1987 recession
The stock market crashes and the Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 508 points or 22.61 percent. Its largest one-day percentage drop in history to date. This day was marked "Black Monday". -
The first internet stock
In August 1994, the first Internet stock trade is completed by K. Aufhauser & Company, Inc.. This launched a new era of online stock trading. This would later lead to the revolution of online brokers. -
The Great Recession
The Bush Administration’s proposed $700 billion bailout for American banks is thrown out by the House of Representatives. Consequently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average takes a near-778-point hit. The 7% drop is the largest in history, with an equivalent loss of over $1 trillion. In October, the House reversed it’s decision in favor of the bailout, but investor confidence has already been shaken and the market does not rally back.
