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Wall Street
About
Wall Street. The historic heart of the Financial District and the home of the New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street is a byword for American big business and stock trading (most New York financial firms are no longer headquartered on the street itself, but housed nearby in new offices). A narrow street running downhill from Broadway to the East River, Wall Street was named for the wall that was built here in 1652 to keep Manhattan's indigenous peoples out of the growing Dutch settlement. The wall was demolished by the British in 1699. By the late 18th century, traders and speculators would gather under a buttonwood tree at the foot of Wall Street to trade informally - this was the origin of the New York Stock Exchange that was established in 1817.
