Why Is “Wall Street” Known Around the World?
This narrow canyon street in the lower part of the Borough of Manhattan is the financial center of New York City. The various exchanges and the largest banking institutions are situated here, and stocks and bonds are dealt in to a vast extent. Its control over finance has spread until now it affects the whole country and is a rival of the great financial centers of Europe.
In the picture, Trinity Church is shown, lying at the head of Wall Street, on Broadway, with its quaint old churchyard and its spire insignificant amid the giant skyscrapers that surround it. Trinity Church was founded in 1696 and rebuilt in 1839. It is probably the wealthiest and most influential of the churches in the United States, controlling many valuable real estate properties in New York City, and having some of the richest and most prominent people in the country among its members.
Starting approximately a quarter of a mile south of Wall Street, Broadway, New York City’s main business thoroughfare, extends for fifteen miles to the northern end of Manhattan Island. The activity and variety of its traffic, the elegance of its shops, and the massiveness and grandeur of many of its public and private buildings, makes it one of the most interesting streets in the world.