Pundit

History of Wall Street

The name of the street derives from the fact that during the 17th century, Wall Street formed the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement. In the 1640s basic picket and plank fences denoted plots and residences in the colony.[3] Later, on behalf of the Dutch West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant, in part using African slaves,[4] led the Dutch in the construction of a stronger stockade. A strengthened 12-foot (4 m) wall[5] of timber and earth was created by 1653 fortified by palisades.[5][3] The wall was created, and strengthened over time, as a defense against attack from various Native American tribes, New England colonists, and the British. In 1685 surveyors laid out Wall Street along the lines of the original stockade.[5] The wall was dismantled by the British in 1699. And while the original name referred to the Walloons,[citation needed] the French speaking Belgians that helped populate this settlement in the beginning,[citation needed] the name was now easily taken to refer to the wall that once was here.

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 informally. In 1792, the traders formalized their association with the Buttonwood Agreement. This was the origin of the New York Stock Exchange.[6]

In 1789, Federal Hall and Wall Street was the scene of the United States’ first presidential inauguration. George Washington took the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall overlooking Wall Street on April 30, 1789. This was also the location of the passing of the Bill Of Rights

In 1889, the original stock report, Customers’ Afternoon Letter, became the The Wall Street Journal, named in reference to the actual street, it is now an influential international daily business newspaper published in New York City.[7] For many years, it had the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, although it is currently second to USA Today.[8] It has been owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. since 2007.