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Wall Street, America's premier street of capitalism, the playground of bulls and bears, begins at a church and ends at a river. For some, it is the mecca of finance. For others, it's a sinkhole of greed and self-interest.
And on May 17, the New York Stock Exchange-the philosophical center of it all-will celebrate its 200th anniversary. Long a place for trading from nearby ships filled with goods from Europe and the West Indies, the Stock Exchange was founded in 1792 by 24 brokers under a sycamore tree on lower Wall Street, in an effort to control excessive speculation and keep trade among themselves.
Even the area on which Wall Street sits was founded on speculation. The British governor of New York, Thomas Donegan, in 1685 secretly bought land there, later subdivided it and sold it off, lot by lot . . . an early example of insider trading. From that questionable beginning, Wall Street, as it's been called since 1700, has influenced history as well as the economies of nations around the world.
Visitors can begin a walking tour of the financial district at Trinity Church, 74 Trinity Place, on the corner of Broadway and Wall Street. The walk-a journey along bustling sidewalks through granite, marble, glass, steel and concrete canyons-is slightly more than a mile, and if one tours all the sites mentioned, will take most of a day.
Begin at Gothic-style Trinity Church-with its sculptured bronze entry doors, ornate stained glass windows and impressive spire, now dwarfed by office buildings-that dates from 1846. For a good introduction to the tour, an illustrated timeline in the church's small museum shows the history and development of New York's financial district.
In the graveyard next to the church, Alexander Hamilton, a parishioner, is buried in a simple, elegant tomb with a small marble pyramid and four marble lamps. Robert Fulton, designer of the first commercially successful U.S. steamboat, is also buried in the churchyard.
From Trinity walk east down Wall Street two blocks, past the New York Stock Exchange, and turn right to enter the Exchange at 20 Broad St., the widest street in the financial district because it was once a barge canal with towpaths on either side.
The 1903 Exchange building is...