Wall Street is a 0.7-mile-long (1.1 km) street running eight blocks, roughly northwest to southeast, from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan in the financial district of New York City. [ 2 ] Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial sector (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or signifying New York-based financial interests. [ 3 ]

§ Early years [ edit ]

Conjectural view of Wall Street, as it probably looked at the time of Washington’s 1789 inauguration

There are varying accounts about how the Dutch-named de Waal Straat [ 9 ] got its name. A generally accepted version is that the name of the street was derived from an earthen wall on the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement, perhaps to protect against English colonial encroachment or incursions by native Americans. A conflicting explanation is that Wall Street was named after Walloons — the Dutch name for Walloon is Waal. [ 10 ] Among the first settlers that embarked on the ship Nieu Nederlandt in 1624 were 30 Walloon families. The Dutch word wal can be translated as palisade. However, even some English maps show the name as Waal Straat, and not as Wal Straat. [ 9 ]

One version of the story is worth quoting: The red people from Manhattan Island crossed to the mainland, where a treaty was made with the Dutch, and the place was therefore called the Pipe of Peace, in their language, Hoboken. But soon after that, the Dutch governor, Kieft, sent his men out there one night and massacred the entire population. Few of them escaped, but they spread the story of what had been done, and this did much to antagonize all the remaining tribes against all the white settlers. Shortly after, Nieuw Amsterdam erected a double palisade for defense against its now enraged red neighbors, and this remained for some time the northern limit of the Dutch city. The space between the former walls is now called Wall Street, and its spirit is still that of a bulwark against the people. [ 11 ]

In the 1640s, basic picket and plank fences denoted plots and residences in the colony. [ 12 ] Later, on behalf of the Dutch West India Company. Peter Stuyvesant. using both African slaves [ 13 ] and white colonists. collaborated with the city government in the construction of a more substantial fortification. a strengthened 12-foot (4 m) wall. [ 14 ] In 1685, surveyors laid out Wall Street along the lines of the original stockade. [ 14 ] 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. In these early days, 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. [ 15 ] Wall Street was also the marketplace where owners could hire out their slaves by the day or week. [ 16 ] The rampart was removed in 1699. [ 10 ]

On December 13, 1711, the New York City Common Council made Wall Street the city’s first official slave market for the sale and rental of enslaved Africans and Indians. [ 17 ] [ 18 ]

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. [ 19 ] The benefit was being in proximity to each other. [ 19 ] In 1792, traders formalized their association with the Buttonwood Agreement which was the origin of the New York Stock Exchange. [ 20 ] The idea of the agreement was to make the market more structured and without the manipulative auctions, with a commission structure. [ 15 ] 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. [ 15 ]

In 1789, Wall Street was the scene of the United States’ first presidential inauguration when George Washington took the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall on April 30, 1789. This was also the location of the passing of the Bill Of Rights. In the cemetery of Trinity Church, Alexander Hamilton. who was the first Treasury secretary and architect of the early United States financial system, is buried. [ 21 ]

§ 19th century [ edit ]