Regulation.

In October 1929, a celebrated Yale economist named Irving Fisher reassured worried investors that their "money was safe" on Wall Street.^[31] A few days later, 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.^[31] During this era, development of the financial district stagnated, and Wall Street "paid a heavy price" and "became something of a backwater in American life."^[31] During the New Deal years as well as the forties, 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 1946-1947, stocks could not be purchased "on margin", meaning that an investor had to pay 100% of a stock's cost without taking on any loans.^[32] But 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%.^[32] These changes made it somewhat easier for investors to buy stocks on credit.^[32] The growing national economy and prosperity led to a recovery during the sixties, with some down years during the early seventies 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."^[33]

Twentieth century.

Historian John Brooks in his book Once in Golconda considered the turn of the 20th century period to have been Wall Street's heyday.^[19] The address of 23 Wall Street where 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."^[19]

Wall Street has had changing relationships with government authorities. In 1913, for example, when authorities proposed a $4 tax on stock transfers, stock clerks protested.^[23] At other times, city and state officials have taken steps through tax incentives to encourage financial firms to continue to do business in the city.

Nineteenth century.

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.^[20] The opening of 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".^[17]

Pictures.

The original city map called the Castello Plan from 1660, showing the wall on the right side

Depiction of the wall of New Amsterdam on a tile in Wall Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line) subway station

Wall Street - early years.

There are varying accounts about how the Dutch-named "de Waal Straat"^[11] got its name. A generally accepted version is that the name of the street name 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 -- possibly a Dutch abbreviation for Walloon being Waal.^[12] Among the first settlers that embarked on the ship "Nieu Nederlandt" in 1624 were 30 Walloon families.

In the 1640s, basic picket and plank fences denoted plots and residences in the colony.^[13] Later, on behalf of the Dutch West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant, using both African slaves^[14] and white colonists, collaborated with the city government in the construction of a stronger stockade. A strengthened 12-foot (4 m) wall^[15] against attack from various Native American tribes. In 1685 surveyors laid out Wall Street along the lines of the original stockade.^[15] 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.^[16]