Early Wall Street: 1830-1940

Book excerpt: Early Wall Street: 1830-1940 traces the development of New York's financial district, from the low-lying city of the early 19th century, through the building boom of the 1870s and 1880s, and into the skyscraper era. A sequence of views shows 40 Wall Street as a modest three-story walk-up topped by a figure from Greek mythology, then the stately Victorian structure that replaced it, and finally, the skyscraper that missed being the tallest building in the world by a spire's length. A rare 1860s photograph captures the first New York Stock Exchange building when the marble on the exterior was still pristine. In these images, Wall Street celebrates, and Wall Street mourns. Stagecoaches clog Broadway, clipper ships dock at East River piers, and elevated trains chug through the financial district.