Financial History Issue 113 (Spring 2015) | Page 26

EARLY WALL STREET
A Visual History of
the Financial District,
1830–1940
By Jay Hoster
New York’s Financial District has undergone many changes over the
years, and while some iconic structures have endured, many others have not.
The New York Stock Exchange building designed by George B. Post is a universally recognizable symbol of American capitalism, but it was not the first
NYSE building on Broad Street. The Produce Exchange on Bowling Green was
capacious enough to house the operations of the NYSE while the new building
was under construction between 1901 and 1903.
The images presented here are of scenes that were once familiar, but which no
longer exist. They record a time when a walk eastward on Wall Street would take
one to the clipper ships moored alongside the Wall Street Ferry, and a time when
Broad Street was crowded with Curb Market traders.

24    FINANCIAL HISTORY  |  Spring 2015  | www.MoAF.org