Scavenger Hunt: The Corner of Wall & Broad

One of the areas of the city you have to take people to when they visit is WALL STREET.  I mean, come on.  What's more New York?  (Well, lots of things, but it's on the tour nonetheless).

Do you know where Wall Street comes from? If I told you, it doesn't count.  (I read Chapter 6 in my book and then proceeding to tell everyone).  As I have mentioned before, New York was called New Amsterdam when it was first founded in the 1609.  In 1653, the Dutch built a nine-foot-high wall along the northern border of the city to protect the city from the English during the First Anglo-Dutch War.  (Ch. 6)  "The wall's primary purpose was to protect the town from an overland invasion from the north".  (Ch. 6)  The path in front of the wall became known as the "wall street".  Most interesting to me is that the wall ran river to river from the Trinity Church graveyard (as it is today) to the corner of Pearl Street.  The rest?  Landfill.  (Ch. 6)  However, bad (or good?) for the Dutch, it was never needed!  When the city was attacked 2 years later by Native Americans (Ch. 8 - the Peach War), they simply walked around the wall!

Broad and Wall
January 2011

Trinity Church
A terminus of the original "wall street" of New Amsterdam

Wall Street towards Trinity Church
July 2011

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was also at Broad and Wall.  On May 17, 1792, twenty-four of the most prestigious traders gathered under the shade of a buttonwood tree on Wall Street and signed a document formalizing a New York Stock & Exchange Board (obviously, later shortened).  (Ch. 19)  They decided that they would only trade with each other (a rule that still lasts).  However, for years, they met in a coffeehouse until moving to a more permanent location.  (Ch. 19)  In 1903, it moved to its current location at Broad and Wall. (Ch. 114)

Doesn't this look a little creepy with the red?
January 2011

A bit more patriotic
July 2011

 The American flag (above) was added post-9/11.  (Ch. 114)  The pediment created by J.Q.A. Ward is a tribute to the exchange called Integrity Protecting the Works of Man.  (Ch. 114)  "Integrity" is featured in the woman (with Mercury's winged cap so you know it's financial integrity) standing in the middle with her fists extended.

The Garage

The photo above is 11 Wall Street (aka the "Garage") and people often mistake it for the main trading floor.  People like ME!  Thank goodness I had the sense to walk around the corner.  Embarrassment avoided!  Anyway, this building was built in the 1920s by Trowbridge & Livingston to add more office space.  (Ch. 114)

Also, right at the intersection, is the present-day U.S. Custom House.  Back in 1787, however, it housed NYC's (and the newly-formed U.S.'s) government.  (Ch. 18)  On March 4, 1789, congress and the electoral college met there for the first time and unanimously selected George Washington as the nation's first president.  On April 30, he was sworn in on the 2nd-floor balcony.  However, it wasn't to last.  Congress met for the last time on Wall Street in August 1790.  (Ch. 18) 

Statue commemorating the first inaugural

The "House of Morgan" (Chs. 122 & 137) also in the intersection I will save for another day... Mostly because I haven't taken any photos of it yet! :)