177-809: Wall Street is a street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City . It runs eight city blocks between Broadway in the west and South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry , New York–based financial interests, or the Financial District. Anchored by Wall Street, New York has been described as
354-526: A Con Edison plant. With mass transit in New York City already suspended as a precaution even before the storm hit, the New York Stock Exchange and other financial exchanges were closed for two days, re-opening on October 31. From 2013 to 2021, nearly two hundred buildings in the Financial District were converted to residential use. Furthermore, between 2001 and 2021, the proportion of companies in
531-590: A powerful bomb exploded . It killed 38 and seriously injured 143 people. The area was subjected to numerous threats; one bomb threat in 1921 led to detectives sealing off the area to "prevent a repetition of the Wall Street bomb explosion". During most of the 20th century, the Financial District was a business community with practically only offices which emptied out at night. Writing in The Death and Life of Great American Cities in 1961, urbanist Jane Jacobs described
708-521: A "cornerstone" of the NYSE, with a benefit of having all of a deal's players close at hand, including investment bankers , lawyers , and accountants . After Wall Street firms started to expand westward in the 1980s into New Jersey , the direct economic impacts of Wall Street activities have gone beyond New York City. The employment in the financial services industry, mostly in the "back office" roles, has become an important part of New Jersey's economy. In 2009,
885-581: A "deathlike stillness that settles on the district after 5:30 and all day Saturday and Sunday". But there has been a change towards greater residential use of the area, pushed forwards by technological changes and shifting market conditions. The general pattern is for several hundred thousand workers to commute into the area during the day, sometimes by sharing a taxicab from other parts of the city as well as from New Jersey and Long Island , and then leave at night. In 1970 only 833 people lived "south of Chambers Street"; by 1990, 13,782 people were residents with
1062-488: A "phoenix-like resurrection" of the area, with residential, commercial, retail and hotels booming in the "third largest business district in the country". At the same time, the investment community was worried about proposed legal reforms, including the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which dealt with matters such as credit card rates and lending requirements. The NYSE closed two of its trading floors in
1239-475: A crash. They made a fortune but turned into the crisis's pantomime villains. Most, though, got burned – the banks are still gradually running down portfolios of non-core loans worth $ 800bn. The first months of 2008 was a particularly troublesome period which caused Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke to "work holidays and weekends" and which did an "extraordinary series of moves". It bolstered U.S. banks and allowed Wall Street firms to borrow "directly from
1416-575: A disease the Africans were far less susceptible to than Native American slaves. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Native American slavery , the enslavement of Native Americans by European colonists , was common. Many of these Native slaves were exported to the Northern colonies and to off-shore colonies, especially the "sugar islands" of the Caribbean . The exact number of Native Americans who were enslaved
1593-479: A downturn with a sizable drop in year-end bonuses of $ 6.5 billion, according to one estimate from a state comptroller's office. To guard against a vehicular bombing in the area, authorities built concrete barriers, and found ways over time to make them more aesthetically appealing by spending $ 5000 to $ 8000 apiece on bollards . Several streets in the neighborhood, including Wall and Broad Streets, were blocked off by specially designed bollards: Rogers Marvel designed
1770-424: A fifth of buildings and warehouses were empty, and many were converted to living areas. Some conversions met with problems, such as aging gargoyles on building exteriors having to be expensively restored to meet with current building codes. Residents in the area have sought to have a supermarket, a movie theater, a pharmacy, more schools, and a "good diner". The discount retailer named Job Lot used to be located at
1947-431: A financial wall in the crisis. Foolishly and recklessly, the banks didn't look at these loans adequately, relying on flawed credit-rating agencies such as Standard & Poor's and Moody's, which blithely certified toxic mortgage-backed securities as solid ... A few of those on Wall Street, including maverick hedge fund manager John Paulson and the top brass at Goldman Sachs, spotted what was going on and ruthlessly gambled on
SECTION 10
#17328557470892124-457: A higher commission for dealing. 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 . Alexander Hamilton , who was the first Treasury secretary and "architect of the early United States financial system",
2301-474: A key magnet for the Wall Street remains the New York Stock Exchange Building . Some "old guard" firms such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch (bought by Bank of America in 2009), have remained "fiercely loyal to the Financial District" location, and new ones such as Deutsche Bank have chosen office space in the district. So-called "face-to-face" trading between buyers and sellers remains
2478-744: A lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 86.3% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 1 murder, 23 rapes, 80 robberies, 61 felony assaults, 85 burglaries, 1,085 grand larcenies, and 21 grand larcenies auto in 2018. The Financial District is served by three New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations: As of 2018 , preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Financial District and Lower Manhattan than in other places citywide. In Financial District and Lower Manhattan, there were 77 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 2.2 teenage births per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide), though
2655-428: A market at the foot of Wall Street the city's first official slave market for the sale and rental of enslaved Black people and Indians. The market operated from 1711 to 1762 at the corner of Wall and Pearl Streets, and consisted of a wooden structure with a roof and open sides, although walls may have been added over the years; it could hold approximately 50 people. New York's municipal authorities directly benefited from
2832-471: A move towards transforming itself into an electronic exchange. Beginning in September 2011, demonstrators disenchanted with the financial system protested in parks and plazas around Wall Street. On October 29, 2012, Wall Street was disrupted when New York and New Jersey were inundated by Hurricane Sandy . Its 14-foot-high (4.3 m) storm surge, a local record, caused massive street flooding nearby. The NYSE
3009-509: A museum visit and discussion of various financiers "who were adept at finding ways around finance laws or loopholes through them". Occasionally artists make impromptu performances; for example, in 2010, a troupe of 22 dancers "contort their bodies and cram themselves into the nooks and crannies of the Financial District in Bodies in Urban Spaces " choreographed by Willi Donner. One chief attraction,
3186-466: A neighborhood, a community." During the past two decades there has been a shift towards greater residential living areas in the Financial District, with incentives from city authorities in some instances. Many empty office buildings have been converted to lofts and apartments; for example, the Liberty Tower , the office building of oil magnate Harry Sinclair , was converted to a co-op in 1979. In 1996,
3363-562: A new kind of bollard, a faceted piece of sculpture whose broad, slanting surfaces offer people a place to sit in contrast to the typical bollard, which is supremely unsittable. The bollard, which is called the Nogo, looks a bit like one of Frank Gehry's unorthodox culture palaces, but it is hardly insensitive to its surroundings. Its bronze surfaces actually echo the grand doorways of Wall Street's temples of commerce. Pedestrians easily slip through groups of them as they make their way onto Wall Street from
3540-504: A no-parking zone across the street from the Marine Midland Bank branch on lower Broadway. The customer in the passenger seat looked like a successful young businessman. But as the dealer slipped him a heat-sealed plastic envelope of cocaine and he passed her cash, the transaction was being watched through the sunroof of her car by Federal drug agents in a nearby building. And the customer — an undercover agent himself -was learning
3717-710: A percentage higher than in the cities of Boston and Philadelphia , and second only to Charleston in the South. The French introduced legalized slavery into their colonies in New France both near the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River . They also used slave labor on their island colonies in the Caribbean: Guadeloupe and especially Saint-Domingue . After the port of New Orleans was founded in 1718 with access to
SECTION 20
#17328557470893894-552: A provincial extension of the Dutch Republic and was designated as the capital of the province of New Netherland in 1625. By 1655, the population of New Netherland had grown to 2,000 people, with 1,500 living in New Amsterdam. By 1664, the population of New Netherland had skyrocketed to almost 9,000 people, 2,500 of whom lived in New Amsterdam, 1,000 lived near Fort Orange , and the remainder in other towns and villages. In 1664
4071-744: A result of taking captives in raids and warfare, both before and after Europeans arrived. This practice continued into the 1800s. In some cases, especially for young women or children, Native American families adopted captives to replace members they had lost. Among those native to the modern Southeastern United States , the children of slaves were considered free. Slaves included captives from wars and slave raids; captives bartered from other tribes, sometimes at great distances; children sold by their parents during famines; and men and women who staked themselves in gambling when they had nothing else, which put them into servitude in some cases for life. In three expeditions between 1514 and 1525, Spanish explorers visited
4248-589: A second estimate (based on the 2000 census based on a different map) places the residential population in 2000 at 12,042. By 2001 there were several grocery stores, dry cleaners, and two grade schools and a top high school. In 2001, the Big Board , as some termed the NYSE, was described as the world's "largest and most prestigious stock market". When the World Trade Center was destroyed on September 11, 2001 , it left an architectural void as new developments since
4425-697: A smaller part of the New England economy, which was based on yeoman farming and trades, than in the South, and a smaller fraction of the population, but they were present. Most were house servants, but some worked at farm labor. The Puritans codified slavery in 1641. The Massachusetts Bay royal colony passed the Body of Liberties , which prohibited slavery in some instances, but did allow three legal bases of slavery. Slaves could be held if they were captives of war, if they sold themselves into slavery, were purchased from elsewhere, or if they were sentenced to slavery by
4602-490: A stock's cost without taking on any loans. However, this margin requirement was reduced four times before 1960, each time stimulating a mini-rally and boosting volume, and when the Federal Reserve reduced the margin requirements from 90% to 70%. These changes made it somewhat easier for investors to buy stocks on credit. The growing national economy and prosperity led to a recovery during the 1960s, with some down years during
4779-523: A vast, neural spaghetti of wires, Web sites and trading platforms — the N.Y.S.E. is clearly no longer the epicenter. Nor is New York. The largest mutual-fund complexes are in Valley Forge, Pa. , Los Angeles and Boston , while trading and money management are spreading globally. Since the end of the cold war, vast pools of capital have been forming overseas, in the Swiss bank accounts of Russian oligarchs, in
4956-685: A visual landmark for drivers and pedestrians. In some respects, the nexus of the Financial District moved physically from Wall Street to the World Trade Center complex and surrounding buildings such as the Deutsche Bank Building , 90 West Street , and One Liberty Plaza . Real estate growth during the latter part of the 1990s was significant, with deals and new projects happening in the Financial District and elsewhere in Manhattan; one firm invested more than $ 24 billion in various projects, many in
5133-436: A woman and her children (if she was still enslaved), education for the mixed-race children of the union, especially boys; and sometimes a property settlement. Free people of color became an intermediate social caste between whites and enslaved blacks; many practiced artisan trades, and some acquired educations and property. Some white fathers sent their mixed-race sons to France for education in military schools. Gradually in
5310-692: Is NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital in the Civic Center area. Slavery in the colonial history of the United States The institution of slavery in the European colonies in North America , which eventually became part of the United States of America , developed due to a combination of factors. Primarily, the labor demands for establishing and maintaining European colonies resulted in
5487-406: Is 0.0096 mg/m (9.6 × 10 oz/cu ft), more than the city average. Sixteen percent of Financial District and Lower Manhattan residents are smokers , which is more than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Financial District and Lower Manhattan, 4% of residents are obese , 3% are diabetic , and 15% have high blood pressure , the lowest rates in the city—compared to
Wall Street - Misplaced Pages Continue
5664-543: Is a neighborhood located on the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City . It is bounded by the West Side Highway on the west, Chambers Street and City Hall Park on the north, Brooklyn Bridge on the northeast, the East River to the southeast, and South Ferry and the Battery on the south. The City of New York was created in the modern-day Financial District in 1624, and the neighborhood roughly overlaps with
5841-488: Is a major location of tourism in New York City . One report described Lower Manhattan as "swarming with camera-carrying tourists". Tour guides highlight places such as Trinity Church , the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building gold vaults 80 feet below street level (worth $ 100 billion), and the New York Stock Exchange Building . A Scoundrels of Wall Street Tour is a walking historical tour which includes
6018-427: Is buried in the cemetery of Trinity Church , as is Robert Fulton famed for his steamboats . In the first few decades, both residences and businesses occupied the area, but increasingly business predominated. "There are old stories of people's houses being surrounded by the clamor of business and trade and the owners complaining that they can't get anything done," according to a historian named Burrows. The opening of
6195-462: Is generally rooted in the Gilded Age , though there are also some art deco influences in the neighborhood. The area is distinguished by narrow streets, a steep topography, and high-rises Construction in such narrow steep areas has resulted in occasional accidents such as a crane collapse. One report divided lower Manhattan into three basic districts: Federal Hall National Memorial , on the site of
6372-603: Is home to the New York Stock Exchange , the world's largest stock exchange by total market capitalization , as well as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York , and commercial banks and insurance companies. Several other stock and commodity exchanges have also been located in Lower Manhattan near Wall Street, including the New York Mercantile Exchange and other commodity futures exchanges, along with
6549-605: Is not clear if it exported any slaves. Native Americans were enslaved by the Spanish in Florida under the encomienda system. New England and the Carolinas captured Native Americans in wars and distributed them as slaves. Native Americans captured and enslaved some early European explorers and colonists. Larger societies structured as chiefdoms kept slaves as unpaid field laborers. In band societies , owning enslaved captives attested to
6726-652: Is now a 1,776 ft (541 m) tall structure, opened in 2014 as the One World Trade Center . Fulton Center , a new transit complex intended to improve access to the area, opened in 2014, followed by the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in 2016. Additionally, in 2007, the Maharishi Global Financial Capital of New York opened headquarters at 70 Broad Street near the NYSE, in an effort to seek investors. By
6903-542: Is patrolled by the 1st Precinct of the New York City Police Department . The Financial District encompasses roughly the area south of City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan but excludes Battery Park and Battery Park City . The former World Trade Center complex was located in the neighborhood until the September 11, 2001, attacks ; the neighborhood includes the successor One World Trade Center . The heart of
7080-933: Is the locus for a large amount of technology and data. For example, to accommodate the three thousand persons who work directly on the Exchange floor requires 3,500 kilowatts of electricity, along with 8,000 phone circuits on the trading floor alone, and 200 miles of fiber-optic cable below ground. Buildings in the Financial District can have one of several types of official landmark designations: The following landmarks are situated south of Morris Street and west of Whitehall Street/Broadway: The following landmarks are located west of Broadway between Morris and Barclay Streets: The following landmarks are located south of Wall Street and east of Broadway/Whitehall Street: The following landmarks are located east of Broadway between Wall Street and Maiden Lane: The following landmarks are located east of Broadway and Park Row between Maiden Lane and
7257-606: Is unknown because vital statistics and census reports were at best infrequent. Historian Alan Gallay has estimated that from 1670 to 1715, slave traders in the Province of Carolina sold between 24,000 and 51,000 Native Americans into slavery as part of the Indian slave trade in the American Southeast . Andrés Reséndez estimates that between 147,000 and 340,000 Native Americans were enslaved in North America, excluding Mexico. Even after
Wall Street - Misplaced Pages Continue
7434-451: Is well-suited for tall buildings, with a solid mass of bedrock underneath Manhattan providing a firm foundation for tall buildings. Skyscrapers are expensive to build, but the scarcity of land in the Financial District made it suitable for the construction of skyscrapers. Business writer John Brooks in his book Once in Golconda considered the start of the 20th century period to have been
7611-937: The Atlantic slave trade . Slavery existed in every European colony in the Americas during the early modern period , and both Africans and indigenous peoples were targets of enslavement by Europeans during the era. As the Spaniards , French , Dutch , and British gradually established colonies in North America from the 16th century onward, they began to enslave indigenous people , using them as forced labor to help develop colonial economies. As indigenous peoples suffered massive population losses due to imported diseases , Europeans quickly turned to importing slaves from Africa, primarily to work on slave plantations that produced cash crops . The enslavement of indigenous people in North America
7788-547: The Dutch West India Company , Peter Stuyvesant , at the start of the first Anglo-Dutch war soon after New Amsterdam was incorporated in 1653. Fearing an over land invasion of English troops from the colonies in New England (at the time Manhattan was easily accessible by land because the Harlem Ship Canal had not been dug), he ordered a ditch and wooden palisade to be constructed on the northern boundary of
7965-585: The Erie Canal in the early 19th century meant a huge boom in business for New York City, since it was the only major eastern seaport which had direct access by inland waterways to ports on the Great Lakes . Wall Street became the "money capital of America". Historian Charles R. Geisst suggested that there has constantly been a "tug-of-war" between business interests on Wall Street and authorities in Washington, D.C. ,
8142-593: The Manhattan Institute was that the securities industry accounts for 4.7 percent of the jobs in New York City but 20.7 percent of its wages, and he estimated there were 175,000 securities-industries jobs in New York (both Wall Street area and midtown) paying an average of $ 350,000 annually. Between 1995 and 2005, the sector grew at an annual rate of about 6.6% annually, a respectable rate, but that other financial centers were growing faster. Another estimate, made in 2008,
8319-650: The NYSE American . Many brokerage firms owned offices nearby to support the business they did on the exchanges. The economic impacts of Wall Street activities extend worldwide. In the original records of New Amsterdam , the Dutch always called the street Het Cingel ("the Belt"), which was also the name of the original outer barrier street, wall, and canal of Amsterdam . After the English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, they renamed
8496-593: The Narváez expedition in Florida. The group headed south on the mainland in 1529, trying to reach Spanish settlements. They were captured and held by Native Americans until 1535. They traveled northwest to the Pacific Coast, then south along the coast to San Miguel de Culiacán , which had been founded in 1531, and then to Mexico City. Spanish Texas had few African slaves, but the colonists enslaved many Native Americans. Beginning in 1803, Spain freed slaves who escaped from
8673-617: The Narváez expedition in Tampa Bay in April 1528 and marched north with the expedition until September, when they embarked on rafts from the Wakulla River , heading for Mexico. African slaves arrived again in Florida in 1539 with Hernando de Soto , and in the 1565 founding of St. Augustine, Florida . When St. Augustine was founded in 1565, the site already had enslaved Native Americans, whose ancestors had migrated from Cuba. The Spanish settlement
8850-418: The Province of North Carolina . The first African slaves in what is now Georgia arrived in mid-September 1526 with Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón 's establishment of San Miguel de Gualdape on the current Georgia coast. They rebelled and lived with indigenous people, destroying the colony in less than 2 months. Two centuries later, Georgia was the last of Britain's Thirteen Colonies to be established and
9027-461: The Red Scare that was underway at the time. A report from The New York Times : The tomb-like silence that settles over Wall Street and lower Broadway with the coming of night and the suspension of business was entirely changed last night as hundreds of men worked under the glare of searchlights to repair the damage to skyscrapers that were lighted up from top to bottom. ... The Assay Office, nearest
SECTION 50
#17328557470899204-508: The Seven Years' War . Spain evacuated its citizens from St. Augustine, including the residents of Fort Mose, transporting them to Cuba . As British colonists developed the colony for plantation agriculture, the percentage of slaves in the population in twenty years rose from 18% to almost 65% by 1783. An African slave, Estevanico , reached Galveston island in November 1528, with the remnants of
9381-462: The U.S. state of New Jersey , and only two salespeople in New York City; the remaining 33 employees work in a center in Kansas. Wall Street in a conceptual sense represents financial and economic power. To Americans, it can sometimes represent elitism and power politics, and its role has been a source of controversy throughout the nation's history, particularly beginning around the Gilded Age period in
9558-540: The West Indies . Historian Alan Gallay estimates that between 1670 and 1715, an estimated 24,000 to 51,000 captive Native Americans were exported from South Carolina to the Caribbean. This was a much higher number than the number of Africans imported to the English mainland colonies during the same period. In 1733, royal governor George Burrington complained that no ships brought their slave cargoes from Africa directly to
9735-480: The subprime mortgage crisis from 2007 to 2010, Wall Street financing was blamed as one of the causes, although most commentators blame an interplay of factors. The U.S. government with the Troubled Asset Relief Program bailed out the banks and financial backers with billions of taxpayer dollars, but the bailout was often criticized as politically motivated, and was criticized by journalists as well as
9912-492: The "Water Gate." The wall and its fortifications were eventually removed in 1699—it had outlived its usefulness because the city had grown well beyond the wall. A new City Hall was built at Wall and Nassau in 1700 using the stones from the bastions as materials for the foundation. Slavery had been introduced to Manhattan in 1626, but it was not until December 13, 1711, that the New York City Common Council made
10089-923: The $ 50 billion fraud perpetrated by Bernie Madoff . When large firms such as Enron , WorldCom , and Global Crossing were found guilty of fraud, Wall Street was often blamed, even though these firms had headquarters around the nation and not in Wall Street. Many complained that the resulting Sarbanes-Oxley legislation dampened the business climate with regulations that were "overly burdensome". Interest groups seeking favor with Washington lawmakers , such as car dealers, have often sought to portray their interests as allied with Main Street rather than Wall Street , although analyst Peter Overby on National Public Radio suggested that car dealers have written over $ 250 billion in consumer loans and have real ties with Wall Street . Financial District, Manhattan The Financial District of Lower Manhattan , also known as FiDi ,
10266-486: The 1640s. These groups conducted enslaving raids in what is now Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and possibly Alabama. The Carolina slave trade, which included both trading and direct raids by colonists, was the largest among the British colonies in North America, estimated at 24,000 to 51,000 Native Americans by Gallay. Historian Ulrich Phillips argues that Africans were inculcated as slaves and
10443-520: The 18th century. African slaves arrived on August 9, 1526, in Winyah Bay (off the coast of present-day South Carolina ) with a Spanish expedition. Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón brought 600 colonists to start a colony at San Miguel de Gualdape . Records say the colonists included enslaved Africans, without saying how many. After a month Ayllón moved the colony to what is now Georgia. Until the early 18th century, enslaved Africans were difficult to acquire in
10620-411: The 1970s had played off the complex aesthetically. The attacks "crippled" the communications network. One estimate was that 45% of the neighborhood's "best office space" had been lost. The physical destruction was immense: Debris littered some streets of the financial district. National Guard members in camouflage uniforms manned checkpoints. Abandoned coffee carts, glazed with dust from the collapse of
10797-478: The 20,088 counted in 2000 . Covering an area of 479.77 acres (194.16 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 82.7/acre (52,900/sq mi; 20,400/km ). The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 65.4% (25,965) White , 3.2% (1,288) African American , 0.1% (35) Native American , 20.2% (8,016) Asian , 0.0% (17) Pacific Islander , 0.4% (153) from other races , and 3.0% (1,170) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.7% (3,055) of
SECTION 60
#173285574708910974-545: The 2010s, the Financial District had become established as a residential and commercial neighborhood. Several new skyscrapers such as 125 Greenwich Street and 130 William were being developed, while other structures such as 1 Wall Street , the Equitable Building , and the Woolworth Building were extensively renovated. Additionally, there were more signs of dogwalkers at night and a 24-hour neighborhood, although
11151-657: The American Indian , Trinity Church , St. Paul's Chapel , and the famous bull . Bowling Green is the starting point of traditional ticker-tape parades on Broadway , where here it is also known as the Canyon of Heroes . The Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Skyscraper Museum are both in adjacent Battery Park City which is also home to the Brookfield Place (formerly World Financial Center). Another key anchor for
11328-400: The Assay Office was a wreck. ... It was as though some gigantic force had overturned the building and then placed it upright again, leaving the framework uninjured but scrambling everything inside. The area was subjected to numerous threats; one bomb threat in 1921 led to detectives sealing off the area to "prevent a repetition of the Wall Street bomb explosion". September 1929 was the peak of
11505-418: The Battery. The Bowling Green area was described as "Wall Street's back yard " with poor people, high infant mortality rates, and the "worst housing conditions in the city". As a result of the construction, looking at New York City from the east, one can see two distinct clumps of tall buildings—the Financial District on the left, and the taller Midtown neighborhood on the right. The geology of Manhattan
11682-413: The British mainland colonies. Most were sold from Africa to the West Indies for the labor-intensive sugar trade. The large plantations and high mortality rates required continued importation of slaves. One of the first major centers of African slavery in the English North American colonies occurred with the founding of Charles Town and the Province of Carolina (later, South Carolina) in 1670. The colony
11859-402: The Brooklyn Bridge: The following landmarks apply to multiple distinct areas: What is now the Financial District was once part of New Amsterdam , situated on the strategic southern tip of the island of Manhattan. New Amsterdam was derived from Fort Amsterdam , meant to defend the fur trade operations of the Dutch West India Company in the North River ( Hudson River ). In 1624, it became
12036-468: The Carolinas and enslaved Native Americans, who they took to their base on Santo Domingo . The Spanish Crown's charter for its 1526 colony in the Carolinas and Georgia was more restrictive. It required that Native Americans be treated well, paid, and converted to Christianity, but it also allowed already enslaved Native Americans to be bought and exported to the Caribbean if they had been enslaved by other Native Americans. This colony did not survive, so it
12213-542: The Catholic faith, implying that Africans were human beings endowed with a soul, an idea that had not been acknowledged until then. The Code Noir forbade interracial marriages, but interracial relationships were formed in La Louisiane from the earliest years. In New Orleans society particularly, a formal system of concubinage, known as plaçage , developed. Usually formed between young white men and African or African-American women, these relationships were formalized with contracts that sometimes provided for freedom for
12390-428: The Christian Indians documented how hundreds of Praying Indians , who were allied with the New England Colonies , were enslaved and sent to the West Indies in the aftermath of King Philip's War by the colonists. Captive indigenous opponents, including women and children, were also sold into slavery at a substantial profit, to be transported to West Indies colonies. African and Native American slaves made up
12567-437: The Company, together with the free Negroes, no one excepted, shall complete the work on the fort by constructing a breastwork, and the farmers are to be summoned to haul the sod." The first Anglo-Dutch War ended in 1654 without hostilities in New Amsterdam, but over time the "werken" (meaning the works or city fortifications) were reinforced and expanded to protect against potential incursions from Native Americans , pirates, and
12744-768: The English colonies, slavery became known as a racial caste system that generally encompassed all people of African descent, including those of mixed race. From 1662, Virginia defined social status by the status of the mother, unlike in England, where under common law fathers determined the status of their children, whether legitimate or natural. Thus, under the doctrine of partus sequitur ventrum , children born to enslaved mothers were considered slaves, regardless of their paternity. Similarly, children born to mothers who were free were also free, whether or not of mixed-race. At one time, Virginia had prohibited enslavement of Christian individuals, but lifted that restriction with its 1662 law. In
12921-579: The English took over New Amsterdam and renamed it New York City. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the corporate culture of New York was a primary center for the construction of early skyscrapers , and was rivaled only by Chicago on the American continent. There were also residential sections, such as the Bowling Green section between Broadway and the Hudson River , and between Vesey Street and
13098-541: The English. The English also expanded and improved the wall after their 1664 takeover (a cause of the Second Anglo-Dutch War ), as did the Dutch from 1673 to 1674 when they briefly retook the city during the Third Anglo-Dutch War , and by the late 1600s the wall encircled most of the city and had two large stone bastions on the northern side. The Dutch named these bastions "Hollandia" and "Zeelandia" after
13275-644: The Fed" through a vehicle called the Fed's Discount Window, a sort of lender of last report. These efforts were highly controversial at the time, but from the perspective of 2010, it appeared the Federal exertions had been the right decisions. By 2010, Wall Street firms, in Clark's view, were "getting back to their old selves as engine rooms of wealth, prosperity and excess". A report by Michael Stoler in The New York Sun described
13452-578: The Federal Reserve, paid $ 750,000 to open a visitors' gallery in 1997. The New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange also spent money in the late 1990s to upgrade facilities for visitors. Attractions include the gold vault beneath the Federal Reserve and that "staring down at the trading floor was as exciting as going to the Statue of Liberty ". The Financial District's architecture
13629-505: The Financial District is often considered to be the corner of Wall Street and Broad Street , both of which are contained entirely within the district. The northeastern part of the Financial District (along Fulton Street and John Street) was known in the early 20th century as the Insurance District, due to the large number of insurance companies that were either headquartered there, or maintained their New York offices there. Although
13806-510: The Financial District stagnated, and Wall Street "paid a heavy price" and "became something of a backwater in American life". During the New Deal years, as well as the 1940s, there was much less focus on Wall Street and finance. The government clamped down on the practice of buying equities based only on credit, but these policies began to ease. From 1946 to 1947, stocks could not be purchased " on margin ", meaning that an investor had to pay 100% of
13983-505: The Financial District to more affordable locations. The recession of 1990–91 was marked by office vacancy rates downtown which were "persistently high" and with some buildings "standing empty". In 1995, city authorities offered the Lower Manhattan Revitalization Plan which offered incentives to convert commercial properties to residential use. According to one description in 1996, "The area dies at night ... It needs
14160-540: The Financial Service cluster, there were three major sectors: more than 60 percent were in the securities industry ; 20 percent were in banking ; and 8 percent in insurance . Additionally, New Jersey has become the main technology infrastructure to support the Wall Street operations. A substantial amount of securities traded in the United States are executed in New Jersey as the data centers of electronic trading in
14337-582: The Fixed Income Clearing Corporation and Emerging Markets Clearing Corporation. Having a direct tie to Wall Street employment can be problematic for New Jersey, however. The state lost 7.9 percent of its employment base from 2007 to 2010 in the financial services sector in the fallout of the subprime mortgage crisis . Of the street's importance as a financial center, New York Times analyst Daniel Gross wrote: In today's burgeoning and increasingly integrated global financial markets —
14514-623: The Gulf Coast, French colonists imported more African slaves to the Illinois Country for use as agricultural or mining laborers. By the mid-eighteenth century, slaves accounted for as much as one-third of the limited population in that rural area. Slavery was much more extensive in lower colonial Louisiana , where the French developed sugar cane plantations along the Mississippi River. Slavery
14691-513: The Indian Slave Trade ended in 1750 the enslavement of Native Americans continued in the west, and also in the Southern states mostly through kidnappings. Slavery of Native Americans was organized in colonial and Mexican California through Franciscan missions, theoretically entitled to ten years of Native labor, but in practice maintaining them in perpetual servitude, until their charge
14868-551: The Louisiana territory, recently acquired by the United States. More African-descended slaves were brought to Texas by American settlers. The first recorded Africans in Virginia arrived in late August 1619. The White Lion , a privateer ship owned by Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick but flying a Dutch flag, docked at what is now Old Point Comfort (located in modern-day Hampton) with approximately 20 Africans. They were captives from
15045-608: The New Amsterdam settlement. The wall was built of dirt and 15-foot (4.6 m) wooden planks, measuring 2,340 feet (710 m) long and 9 feet (2.7 m) tall and was built using the labor of both Black slaves and white colonists. In fact Stuyvesant had ordered that "the citizens, without exception, shall work on the constructions… by immediately digging a ditch from the East River to the North River, 4 to 5 feet deep and 11 to 12 feet wide..." And that "the soldiers and other servants of
15222-575: The Shanghai vaults of Chinese manufacturing magnates and in the coffers of funds controlled by governments in Singapore, Russia, Dubai , Qatar and Saudi Arabia that may amount to some $ 2.5 trillion. An example is the alternative trading platform known as BATS , based in Kansas City , which came "out of nowhere to gain a 9 percent share in the market for trading United States stocks". The firm has computers in
15399-531: The U.S. equity market for all major stock exchanges are located in North and Central Jersey . A significant amount of securities clearing and settlement workforce is also in the state. This includes the majority of the workforce of Depository Trust Company, the primary U.S. securities depository ; and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation , the parent company of National Securities Clearing Corporation,
15576-636: The Wall Street area. In 1998, the NYSE and the city struck a $ 900 million deal which kept the NYSE from moving across the river to Jersey City ; the deal was described as the "largest in city history to prevent a corporation from leaving town". A competitor to the NYSE, NASDAQ , moved its headquarters from Washington to New York. In 1987, the stock market plunged and, in the relatively brief recession following, lower Manhattan lost 100,000 jobs according to one estimate. Since telecommunications costs were coming down, banks and brokerage firms could move away from
15753-513: The Wall Street employment wages were paid in the amount of almost $ 18.5 billion in the state. The industry contributed $ 39.4 billion or 8.4 percent to the New Jersey's gross domestic product in the same year. The most significant area with Wall Street employment is in Jersey City . In 2008, the "Wall Street West" employment contributed to one third of the private sector jobs in Jersey City. Within
15930-420: The World Trade Center but moved to Church Street; merchants bought extra unsold items at steep prices and sold them as a discount to consumers, and shoppers included "thrifty homemakers and browsing retirees" who "rubbed elbows with City Hall workers and Wall Street executives"; but the firm went bust in 1993. There were reports that the number of residents increased by 60% during the 1990s to about 25,000 although
16107-402: The World Trade Center, lay on their sides across sidewalks. Most subway stations were closed, most lights were still off, most telephones did not work, and only a handful of people walked in the narrow canyons of Wall Street yesterday morning. Still, the NYSE was determined to re-open on September 17, almost a week after the attack. After September 11, the financial services industry went through
16284-417: The actual street, it became an influential international daily business newspaper published in New York City. After October 7, 1896, it began publishing Dow's expanded list of stocks. A century later, there were 30 stocks in the average. Business writer John Brooks in his book Once in Golconda considered the start of the 20th century period to have been Wall Street's heyday. The address of 23 Wall Street ,
16461-531: The addition of areas such as Battery Park City and Southbridge Towers . Battery Park City was built on 92 acres of landfill, and 3,000 people moved there beginning about 1982, but by 1986 there was evidence of more shops and stores and a park, along with plans for more residential development. Construction of the World Trade Center began in 1966, but the World Trade Center had trouble attracting tenants when completed. Nonetheless, some substantial firms purchased space there. Its impressive height helped make it
16638-637: The ages of 25–44, while 14% are between 0–17, and 18% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 11% and 7% respectively. As of 2017, the median household income in Community Districts 1 and 2 (including Greenwich Village and SoHo ) was $ 144,878. In 2018, an estimated 9% of Financial District and Lower Manhattan residents lived in poverty, compared to 14% in all of Manhattan and 20% in all of New York City. One in twenty-five residents (4%) were unemployed, compared to 7% in Manhattan and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or
16815-406: The area around historic Trinity Church. Cars, however, cannot pass. The destruction of the World Trade Center spurred development on a scale that had not been seen in decades. Tax incentives provided by federal, state and local governments encouraged development. A new World Trade Center complex centered on Daniel Libeskind 's Memory Foundations was after the 9/11 attacks. The centerpiece, which
16992-403: The area is the New York Stock Exchange . City authorities realize its importance, and believed that it has "outgrown its neoclassical temple at the corner of Wall and Broad streets", and in 1998 offered substantial tax incentives to try to keep it in the Financial District. Plans to rebuild it were delayed by the September 11, 2001, attacks. The Exchange still occupies the same site. The Exchange
17169-516: The area of present-day Angola and had been seized by the privateer's crew from a Portuguese slave ship, the "São João Bautista". To obtain the Africans, the Jamestown colony traded provisions with the ship. Some number of these individuals appear to have been treated like indentured servants , since slave laws were not passed until later, in 1641 in Massachusetts and in 1661 in Virginia. But from
17346-420: The area that were in the finance and insurance industries declined from 55 to 30 percent. For census purposes, the New York City government classifies the Financial District as part of a larger neighborhood tabulation area called Battery Park City-Lower Manhattan. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census , the population of Battery Park City-Lower Manhattan was 39,699, an increase of 19,611 (97.6%) from
17523-649: The area were laid out as part of the Castello Plan prior to the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 , a grid plan that dictates the placement of most of Manhattan's streets north of Houston Street . Thus, it has small streets "barely wide enough for a single lane of traffic are bordered on both sides by some of the tallest buildings in the city", according to one description, which creates "breathtaking artificial canyons". Some streets have been designated as pedestrian-only with vehicular traffic prohibited. The Financial District
17700-460: The area's heyday. The address of 23 Wall Street , the headquarters of J. P. Morgan & Company , known as The Corner , was "the precise center, geographical as well as metaphorical, of financial America and even of the financial world". 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 ,
17877-511: The assembly had made a public decision to enslave Native Americans. In the years to follow, other laws resulted in Native Americans being grouped with other non-Christian servants who had been imported to the colonies (Negro slaves) as slaves for life. Puritan New England, Virginia, Spanish Florida, and the Carolina colonies engaged in large-scale enslavement of Native Americans, often through
18054-472: The attacks "crippled" the communications network and destroyed many buildings in the Financial District, although the buildings on Wall Street itself saw only little physical damage. One estimate was that 45% of Wall Street's "best office space" had been lost. The NYSE was determined to re-open on September 17, almost a week after the attack. During this time Rockefeller Group Business Center opened additional offices at 48 Wall Street . Still, after September 11,
18231-484: 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 stock market . In 1889 the original stock report, Customers' Afternoon Letter , became The Wall Street Journal . Named in reference to
18408-1026: The beginning, in accordance with the custom of the Atlantic slave trade , most of this relatively small group, appear to have been treated as slaves, with "African" or "negro" becoming synonymous with "slave". Virginia enacted laws concerning runaway slaves and 'negroes' in 1672. Some number of the colony's early Africans earned freedom by fulfilling a work contract or for converting to Christianity. At least one of these, Anthony Johnson , in turn, acquired slaves or indentured servants for workers himself. Historians such as Edmund Morgan say this evidence suggests that racial attitudes were much more flexible in early 17th-century Virginia than they would later become. A 1625 census recorded 23 Africans in Virginia. In 1649 there were 300, and in 1690 there were 950. Over this period, legal distinctions between white indentured servants and "Negros" widened into lifelong and inheritable chattel-slavery for Africans and people of African descent. The 1677 work The Doings and Sufferings of
18585-570: The best answer to the labor shortage in the New World because Native American slaves were more familiar with the environment, and would often successfully escape into the frontier territory they knew. Africans had more difficulty surviving in unknown territory. Africans were also more familiar with large scale indigo and rice cultivation, of which Native Americans were unfamiliar. The early colonial America depended heavily on rice and indigo cultivation producing disease-carrying mosquitoes caused malaria ,
18762-480: The boundaries of the New Amsterdam settlement in the late 17th century. The district comprises the offices and headquarters of many of the city's major financial institutions , including the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York . Anchored on Wall Street in the Financial District, New York City has been called both the leading financial center and the most economically powerful city of
18939-467: The capital of the United States by then. Generally during the 19th century Wall Street developed its own "unique personality and institutions" with little outside interference. In the 1840s and 1850s, most residents moved further uptown to Midtown Manhattan because of the increased business use at the lower tip of the island. The Civil War greatly expanded the northern economy, bringing greater prosperity to cities like New York which "came into its own as
19116-531: The captor's military prowess. Some war captives were subjected to ritualized torture and execution. Alan Gallay and other historians emphasize differences between Native American enslavement of war captives and the European slave trading system, into which numerous native peoples were integrated. Richard White , in The Middle Ground , elucidates the complex social relationships between Native American groups and
19293-493: The city's tax revenue, and 22 percent of the city's total wages, including an average salary of US$ 360,700. The seven largest Wall Street firms in the 2000s were Bear Stearns , JPMorgan Chase , Citigroup , Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley , Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers . During the recession of 2008–10, many of these firms, including Lehman, went out of business or were bought up at firesale prices by other financial firms. In 2008, Lehman filed for bankruptcy, Bear Stearns
19470-421: The city. By 2010 the residential population had increased to 24,400 residents. and the area was growing with luxury high-end apartments and upscale retailers. On October 29, 2012, New York and New Jersey were inundated by Hurricane Sandy . Its 14-foot-high storm surge, a local record, caused massive street flooding in many parts of Lower Manhattan. Power to the area was knocked out by a transformer explosion at
19647-620: The city. A post office was built at 60 Wall Street in 1905. During the World War I years, occasionally there were fund-raising efforts for projects such as the National Guard . 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. The perpetrators were never identified or apprehended. The explosion did, however, help fuel
19824-416: The city. One estimate was that Wall Street firms employed close to 200,000 persons in 2008. Another estimate was that in 2007, the financial services industry which had a $ 70 billion profit became 22 percent of the city's revenue. Another estimate (in 2006) was that the financial services industry makes up 9% of the city's work force and 31% of the tax base. An additional estimate from 2007 by Steve Malanga of
20001-538: The citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 5% of children are obese, the lowest rate in the city, compared to the citywide average of 20%. Ninety-six percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is more than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 88% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", more than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Financial District and Lower Manhattan, there are 6 bodegas . The nearest major hospital
20178-409: The colony fell to the English in the 1660s, the company freed all its slaves, which created an early nucleus of free Negros in the area. The English continued to import slaves to New York. Slaves in the colony performed a wide variety of skilled and unskilled jobs, mostly in the burgeoning port city and surrounding agricultural areas. In 1703 more than 42% of New York City 's households held slaves,
20355-475: The corner of Wall and Broad streets", and in 1998, offered substantial tax incentives to try to keep it in the Financial District. Plans to rebuild it were delayed by the September 11 attacks. The exchange still occupies the same site. The exchange is the locus for a large amount of technology and data. For example, to accommodate the three thousand people who work directly on the exchange floor requires 3,500 kilowatts of electricity, along with 8,000 phone circuits on
20532-466: The downturn. But there were signs that Manhattan property prices were rebounding with price rises of 9% annually in 2010, and bonuses were being paid once more, with average bonuses over $ 124,000 in 2010. A requirement of the New York Stock Exchange was that brokerage firms had to have offices "clustered around Wall Street" so clerks could deliver physical paper copies of stock certificates each week. There were some indications that midtown had been becoming
20709-461: The early 1970s in the aftermath of the Vietnam War . Trading volumes climbed; in 1967, according to Time Magazine , volume hit 7.5 million shares a day which caused a "traffic jam" of paper with "batteries of clerks" working overtime to "clear transactions and update customer accounts". In 1973, the financial community posted a collective loss of $ 245 million, which spurred temporary help from
20886-541: The early 1980s of languishing. A report in The New York Times described that the flushness of money and growth during these years had spawned a drug culture of sorts, with a rampant acceptance of cocaine use although the overall percent of actual users was most likely small. A reporter wrote: The Wall Street drug dealer looked like many other successful young female executives. Stylishly dressed and wearing designer sunglasses, she sat in her 1983 Chevrolet Camaro in
21063-416: The early 19th century, both residences and businesses occupied the area, but increasingly the latter predominated, and New York's financial industry became centered on Wall Street. During the 20th century, several early skyscrapers were built on Wall Street, including 40 Wall Street , once the world's tallest building. The street is near multiple subway stations and ferry terminals . The Wall Street area
21240-543: The early empires, including 'slave' culture and scalping. Robbie Ethridge states, Let there be no doubt...that the commercial trade in Indian slaves was not a continuation and adaptation of pre-existing captivity patterns. It was a new kind of slave, requiring a new kind of occupational specialty ... organized militaristic slavers. One example of militaristic slaving can be seen in Nathaniel Bacon 's actions in Virginia during
21417-407: The effect of lowering prices overall, making it easier for more people to participate in the stock market. Broker commissions for each stock sale lessened, but volume increased. The Reagan years were marked by a renewed push for capitalism and business , with national efforts to de-regulate industries such as telecommunications and aviation . The economy resumed upward growth after a period in
21594-436: The financial services industry went through a downturn with a sizable drop in year-end bonuses of $ 6.5 billion, according to one estimate from a state comptroller's office. To guard against a vehicular bombing in the area, authorities built concrete barriers, and found ways over time to make them more aesthetically appealing by spending $ 5000 to $ 8000 apiece on bollards . Parts of Wall Street, as well as several other streets in
21771-667: The first U.S. capitol and the first inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States , is located at the corner of Wall Street and Nassau Street . The Financial District has a number of tourist attractions such as the South Street Seaport Historic District, newly renovated Pier 17, the New York City Police Museum , the Museum of American Finance , the National Museum of
21948-626: The form of domestic labor or doing other forms of unpaid work alongside non-enslaved counterparts. The American Revolution led to the first abolition laws in the Americas, although the institution of chattel slavery would continue to exist and expand across the Southern United States until finally being abolished at the time of the American Civil War in 1865. Native Americans enslaved members of their own and other tribes, usually as
22125-547: The former investment firm of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette was described as a Wall Street firm but had its headquarters on Park Avenue in Midtown . A report described the migration from Wall Street: The financial industry has been slowly migrating from its historic home in the warren of streets around Wall Street to the more spacious and glamorous office towers of Midtown Manhattan. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bear Stearns have all moved north. Nevertheless,
22302-505: The furthest south (Florida was not one of the Thirteen Colonies). Founded in the 1730s, Georgia's powerful backers did not necessarily object to slavery as an institution, but their business model was to rely on labor from Britain (primarily England's poor) and they were also concerned with security, given the closeness of then Spanish Florida, and Spain's regular offers to enemy-slaves to revolt or escape. Despite agitation for slavery, it
22479-421: The general pattern of crowds during the working hours and emptiness at night was still apparent. There were also ten hotels and thirteen museums in 2010. In 2007 the French fashion retailer Hermès opened a store in the Financial District to sell items such as a "$ 4,700 custom-made leather dressage saddle or a $ 47,000 limited edition alligator briefcase". However, there are reports of panhandlers like elsewhere in
22656-574: The governing authority. The Body of Liberties used the word "strangers" to refer to people bought and sold as slaves, as they were generally not native born English subjects. Colonists came to equate this term with Native Americans and Africans. The New Hampshire General Court passed "An Act To Prevent Disorders In The Night" in 1714, prefiguring the development of sundown towns in the United States: Whereas great disorders, insolencies and burglaries are oft times raised and committed in
22833-653: The government. Reforms were instituted; the Securities & Exchange Commission eliminated fixed commissions, which forced "brokers to compete freely with one another for investors' business". In 1975, the SEC threw out the NYSE 's "Rule 394" which had required that "most stock transactions take place on the Big Board's floor", in effect freeing up trading for electronic methods. In 1976, banks were allowed to buy and sell stocks, which provided more competition for stockbrokers . Reforms had
23010-498: The grand doorways of Wall Street's temples of commerce. Pedestrians easily slip through groups of them as they make their way onto Wall Street from the area around historic Trinity Church. Cars, however, cannot pass. The Guardian reporter Andrew Clark described the years of 2006 to 2010 as "tumultuous", in which the heartland of America was "mired in gloom" with high unemployment around 9.6%, with average house prices falling from $ 230,000 in 2006 to $ 183,000, and foreboding increases in
23187-503: The headquarters of J. P. Morgan & Company , known as The Corner , was "the precise center, geographical as well as metaphorical, of financial America and even of the financial world". Wall Street has had changing relationships with government authorities. In 1913, for example, when authorities proposed a $ 4 stock transfer tax , 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
23364-448: The headquarters of banks. These include: Another key anchor for the area is the New York Stock Exchange Building at the corner of Broad Street . It houses the New York Stock Exchange , which is by far the world's largest stock exchange per market capitalization of its listed companies, at US$ 28.5 trillion as of June 30, 2018. City authorities realize its importance, and believed that it has "outgrown its neoclassical temple at
23541-410: The late 1670s. In June 1676, the Virginia assembly granted Bacon and his men what equated to a slave-hunting license by providing that any enemy Native Americans caught were to be slaves for life. They also provided soldiers who had captured Native Americans with the right to "reteyne and keepe all such Indian slaves or other Indian goods as they either have taken or hereafter shall take." By this order,
23718-452: The late 19th century. Wall Street became the symbol of a country and economic system that many Americans see as having developed through trade, capitalism, and innovation. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry , or New York–based financial interests. Wall Street has become synonymous with financial interests, often used negatively. During
23895-433: The locus of financial services dealings even by 1911. But as technology progressed, in the middle and later decades of the 20th century, computers and telecommunications replaced paper notifications, meaning that the close proximity requirement could be bypassed in more situations. Many financial firms found that they could move to Midtown Manhattan , only four miles (6 km) away, and still operate effectively. For example,
24072-728: The nascent province of New Netherland . The Dutch colony expanded across the North River (Hudson River) to Bergen (in today's New Jersey). Later, slaves were also held privately by settlers in the area. Although enslaved, the Africans had a few basic rights and families were usually kept intact. They were admitted to the Dutch Reformed Church and married by its ministers, and their children could be baptized. Slaves could testify in court, sign legal documents, and bring civil actions against whites. Some were permitted to work after hours earning wages equal to those paid to white workers. When
24249-421: The nation's banking center" connecting "Old World capital and New World ambition", according to one account. J. P. Morgan created giant trusts and John D. Rockefeller 's Standard Oil moved to New York City. Between 1860 and 1920, the economy changed from "agricultural to industrial to financial" and New York maintained its leadership position despite these changes, according to historian Thomas Kessner. New York
24426-519: The national debt to $ 13.4 trillion, but that despite the setbacks, the American economy was once more "bouncing back". What had happened during these heady years? Clark wrote: But the picture is too nuanced simply to dump all the responsibility on financiers. Most Wall Street banks didn't actually go around the US hawking dodgy mortgages; they bought and packaged loans from on-the-ground firms such as Countrywide Financial and New Century Financial, both of which hit
24603-585: The neighborhood is in the 61st, 65th, and 66th districts, represented respectively by Charles Fall , Grace Lee , and Deborah Glick . Politically, the Financial District in New York's 10th congressional district ; as of 2022 , it is represented by Dan Goldman . Financial District and Lower Manhattan are patrolled by the 1st Precinct of the NYPD , located at 16 Ericsson Place. The 1st Precinct ranked 63rd safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. Though
24780-462: The neighborhood, were blocked off by specially designed bollards: ... Rogers Marvel designed a new kind of bollard, a faceted piece of sculpture whose broad, slanting surfaces offer people a place to sit in contrast to the typical bollard, which is supremely unsittable. The bollard, which is called the Nogo, looks a bit like one of Frank Gehry's unorthodox culture palaces, but it is hardly insensitive to its surroundings. Its bronze surfaces actually echo
24957-630: The night time by Indian, Negro, and Molatto Servants and Slaves to the Disquiet and hurt of her Majesty's subjects, No Indian, Negro, or Molatto is to be from Home after 9 o'clock. Notices emphasizing and re-affirming the curfew were published in The New Hampshire Gazette in 1764 and 1771. The Dutch West India Company introduced slavery in 1625 with the importation of eleven enslaved blacks who worked as farmers, fur traders, and builders to New Amsterdam (present day New York City), capital of
25134-414: The number of crimes is low compared to other NYPD precincts, the residential population is also much lower. As of 2018 , with a non-fatal assault rate of 24 per 100,000 people, Financial District and Lower Manhattan's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 152 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole. The 1st Precinct has
25311-431: The origins of the name Wall Street appeared in modern times because in the 19th and early 20th century some historians mistakenly thought the Dutch had called it "de Waal Straat", which to Dutch ears sounds like Walloon Street. However, in 17th century New Amsterdam, de Waal Straat (Wharf or Dock Street) was a section of what is today's Pearl Street . The original wall was constructed under orders from Director General of
25488-496: The percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 38% in Financial District and Lower Manhattan, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 45% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018 , Financial District and Lower Manhattan are considered high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying . The population of the Financial District has grown to an estimated 61,000 residents as of 2018, up from 43,000 as of 2014, which in turn
25665-799: The period less dependent on slavery than the Caribbean colonies, or those of New Spain, or Brazil, and slavery did not develop significantly until later in the colonial era. Nonetheless, slavery was legal in every colony prior to the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), and was most prominent in the Southern Colonies (as well as, the southern Mississippi River and Florida colonies of France, Spain, and Britain), which by then developed large slave-based plantation systems. Slavery in Europe's North American colonies which did not have warm climates and ideal conditions for plantations to exist primarily took
25842-423: The point of explosion, naturally suffered the most. The front was pierced in fifty places where the cast iron slugs, which were of the material used for window weights, were thrown against it. Each slug penetrated the stone an inch or two [3–5 cm] and chipped off pieces ranging from three inches to a foot [8–30 cm] in diameter. The ornamental iron grill work protecting each window was broken or shattered. ...
26019-428: The population. The entirety of Community District 1, which comprises the Financial District and other Lower Manhattan neighborhoods, had 63,383 inhabitants as of NYC Health 's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 85.8 years. This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are young to middle-aged adults: half (50%) are between
26196-586: The present-day United States of America arrived in Puerto Rico in the early 16th century, at the hands of the Portuguese . The island's native population was conquered by the Spanish settler Juan Ponce de León with the help of a free West African conquistador, Juan Garrido , by 1511. The slave population on the island grew after the Spanish crown granted import rights to its citizens, but did not reach its peak until
26373-545: The public. Analyst Robert Kuttner in the Huffington Post criticized the bailout as helping large Wall Street firms such as Citigroup while neglecting to help smaller community development banks such as Chicago's ShoreBank . One writer in the Huffington Post looked at FBI statistics on robbery, fraud, and crime and concluded that Wall Street was the "most dangerous neighborhood in the United States" if one factored in
26550-444: The sale of slaves by implementing taxes on every person who was bought and sold there. 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. 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
26727-590: The settlement "New York" and in tax records from April 1665 (still in Dutch) they refer to the street as Het Cingel ofte Stadt Wall ("the Belt or the City Wall"). This use of both names for the street also appears as late as 1691 on the Miller Plan of New York. New York Governor Thomas Dongan may have issued the first official designation of Wall Street in 1686, the same year he issued a new charter for New York. Confusion over
26904-439: The ships that carried their invasion force. The wall started at Hanover Square on Pearl Street, which was the shoreline at that time, crossed the Indian path that the Dutch called Heeren Wegh , now called Broadway , and ended 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 . There was a gate at Broadway (the "Land Gate") and another at Pearl Street,
27081-659: The slave trade and the institution of slavery in the French colonies. As a result, Louisiana and the Mobile, Alabama areas developed very different patterns of slavery compared to the British colonies. As written, the Code Noir gave some rights to slaves, including the right to marry. Although it authorized and codified cruel corporal punishment against slaves under certain conditions, it forbade slave owners to torture slaves, to separate married couples, and to separate young children from their mothers. It required owners to instruct slaves in
27258-549: The state's, the downturn has had huge repercussions for government treasuries. New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg reportedly over a four-year period dangled over $ 100 million in tax incentives to persuade Goldman Sachs to build a 43-story headquarters in the Financial District near the destroyed World Trade Center site. In 2009, things looked somewhat gloomy, with one analysis by the Boston Consulting Group suggesting that 65,000 jobs had been permanently lost because of
27435-591: The stock market. October 3, 1929, was when the market started to slip, and it continued throughout the week of October 14. In October 1929, renowned Yale economist Irving Fisher reassured worried investors that their "money was safe" on Wall Street. A few days later, on October 24, 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 foreclosures of farms, and falling prices. During this era, development of
27612-439: The teenage birth rate is based on a small sample size. Financial District and Lower Manhattan have a low population of residents who are uninsured . In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 4%, less than the citywide rate of 12%, though this was based on a small sample size. The concentration of fine particulate matter , the deadliest type of air pollutant , in Financial District and Lower Manhattan
27789-471: The term is sometimes used as a synonym for Wall Street , the latter term is often applied metonymously to the financial markets as a whole (and is also a street in the district), whereas "the Financial District" implies an actual geographical location. The Financial District is part of Manhattan Community Board 1 , which also includes five other neighborhoods ( Battery Park City , Civic Center , Greenwich South , Seaport , and Tribeca ). The streets in
27966-446: The trading floor alone, and 200 miles (320 km) of fiber-optic cable below ground. Finance professor Charles R. Geisst wrote that the exchange has become "inextricably intertwined into New York's economy". Wall Street pay, in terms of salaries and bonuses and taxes, is an important part of the economy of New York City , the tri-state metropolitan area , and the United States . Anchored by Wall Street, New York City has been called
28143-531: The use of Indian proxies to wage war and acquire the slaves. In New England, slave raiding accompanied the Pequot War and King Philip's War but declined after the latter war ended in 1676. Enslaved Native Americans were in Jamestown from the early years of the settlement, but large-scale cooperation between slave-trading English colonists and the Westo and Occaneechi peoples, whom they armed with guns, did not begin until
28320-414: The ways, the wiles and the conventions of Wall Street's drug subculture. In 1987, the stock market plunged, and, in the relatively brief recession following, the surrounding area lost 100,000 jobs according to one estimate. Since telecommunications costs were coming down, banks and brokerage firms could move away from the Financial District to more affordable locations. One of the firms looking to move away
28497-439: The world's most economically powerful city and leading financial center . As such, a falloff in Wall Street's economy could have "wrenching effects on the local and regional economies". In 2008, after a downturn in the stock market, the decline meant $ 18 billion less in taxable income, with less money available for "apartments, furniture, cars, clothing and services". Estimates vary about the number and quality of financial jobs in
28674-486: The world's principal fintech and financial center . The street was originally known in Dutch as Het Cingel ("the Belt") when it was part of New Amsterdam during the 17th century. An actual city wall existed on the street from 1653 to 1699. During the 18th century, the location served as a slave market and securities trading site , and from 1703 onward, the location of New York's city hall, which became Federal Hall . In
28851-532: The world, and the New York Stock Exchange is the world's largest stock exchange by total market capitalization . Several other major exchanges have or had headquarters in the Financial District, including the New York Mercantile Exchange , NASDAQ , the New York Board of Trade , and the former American Stock Exchange . The Financial District is part of Manhattan Community District 1 , and its primary ZIP Codes are 10004, 10005, 10006, 10007, and 10038. It
29028-520: Was being in proximity to each other. In 1792, traders formalized their association with the Buttonwood Agreement which was the origin of the New York Stock Exchange . 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
29205-432: Was bought by JPMorgan Chase forced by the U.S. government , and Merrill Lynch was bought by Bank of America in a similar shot-gun wedding. These failures marked a catastrophic downsizing of Wall Street as the financial industry goes through restructuring and change. Since New York's financial industry provides almost one-fourth of all income produced in the city, and accounts for 10% of the city's tax revenues and 20% of
29382-498: Was closed for weather-related reasons, the first time since Hurricane Gloria in September 1985 and the first two-day weather-related shutdown since the Blizzard of 1888 . Wall Street's architecture is generally rooted in the Gilded Age . The older skyscrapers often were built with elaborate facades, which have not been common in corporate architecture for decades. There are numerous landmarks on Wall Street, some of which were erected as
29559-435: Was founded mainly by sugar planters from Barbados , who brought relatively large numbers of African slaves from that island to develop new plantations in the Carolinas. To meet agricultural labor needs, colonists also practiced Indian slavery for some time. The Carolinians transformed the Indian slave trade during the late 17th and early 18th centuries by treating such slaves as a trade commodity to be exported, mainly to
29736-537: Was later fortified. There were two known Fort Mose sites in the eighteenth century, and the men helped defend St. Augustine against the British. It is "the only known free black town in the present-day southern United States that a European colonial government-sponsored. The Fort Mose Site, today a National Historic Landmark , is the location of the second Fort Mose." During the nineteenth century, this site became marsh and wetlands. In 1763, Great Britain took over Florida in an exchange with Spain after defeating France in
29913-429: Was later replaced during the 18th century by the enslavement of black African people. Concurrent with the development of slavery, racist ideology was developed among Europeans, the rights of free people of color in European colonies were curtailed, slaves were legally defined as chattel property, and the condition of slavery as hereditary . The Thirteen Colonies of northern British America , were for much or all of
30090-609: Was maintained during the French (1699–1763, and 1800–1803) and Spanish (1763–1800) periods of government. The first people enslaved by the French were Native Americans, but they could easily escape into the countryside which they knew well. Beginning in the early 18th century, the French imported Africans as laborers in their efforts to develop the colony. Mortality rates were high for both colonists and Africans, and new workers had to be regularly imported. Implemented in colonial Louisiana in 1724, Louis XIV of France 's Code Noir regulated
30267-626: Was nearly double the 23,000 recorded at the 2000 Census. In the New York City Council , the Financial District is part of District 1 , represented by Democrat Christopher Marte . List of aldermen /councilmen who have represented the Financial District The Financial District is part of New York's 27th State Senate district , represented by Brian P. Kavanagh . In the New York State Assembly ,
30444-399: Was not until a defeat of the Spanish by Georgia colonials in the 1740s that arguments for opening the colony to slavery intensified. To staff the rice plantations and settlements, Georgia's proprietors relented in 1751, and African slavery grew quickly. After becoming a royal colony, in the 1760s Georgia began importing slaves directly from Africa. One African slave, Estevanico arrived with
30621-410: Was revoked in the mid-1830s. Following the 1847–48 invasion by U.S. troops , the "loitering or orphaned Indians" were de facto enslaved in the new state from statehood in 1850 to 1867. Slavery required the posting of a bond by the slave holder and enslavement occurred through raids and a four-month servitude imposed as a punishment for Indian " vagrancy ". The first African slaves in what would become
30798-443: Was second only to London as the world's financial capital. In 1884, Charles Dow began tracking stocks, initially beginning with 11 stocks, mostly railroads. He looked at average prices for these eleven. Some of the companies included in Dow's original calculations were American Tobacco Company , General Electric , Laclede Gas Company , National Lead Company , Tennessee Coal & Iron , and United States Leather Company . When
30975-406: Was sparse and they held comparatively few slaves. The Spanish promised freedom to refugee slaves from the English colonies of South Carolina and Georgia in order to destabilize English settlement. If the slaves converted to Catholicism and agreed to serve in a militia for Spain, they could become Spanish citizens. By 1730 the black settlement known as Fort Mose developed near St. Augustine and
31152-404: Was that Wall Street provided a fourth of all personal income earned in the city, and 10% of New York City's tax revenue. The city's securities industry, enumerating 163,400 jobs in August 2013, continues to form the largest segment of the city's financial sector and an important economic engine, accounting in 2012 for 5 percent of private sector jobs in New York City, 8.5 percent (US$ 3.8 billion) of
31329-434: Was the NYSE. In 1998, the NYSE and the city struck a $ 900 million deal which kept the NYSE from moving across the river to Jersey City ; the deal was described as the "largest in city history to prevent a corporation from leaving town". In 2001, the Big Board , as some termed the NYSE, was described as the world's "largest and most prestigious stock market". When the World Trade Center was destroyed on September 11, 2001 ,
#88911