City Hall to U.S.Capitol / Money Men / Nassau Changes Scale
City Hall
New York’s second City Hall was completed 1700, using stones salvaged from the just-demolished wall after which Wall Street is named. Abraham De Peyster donated the site to the city, enhancing the value of his other lots along Wall Street. The first floor was a prison, the second held courtrooms. Just in front stood the stocks, the pillory, and the whipping post, moved up from the old “Stady Huys” (State House) on Coenties Slip in 1703.
Federal Hall
City Hall was extensively remodeled in 1788-89 to become the first U.S. Capitol, a function it served for only one year. George Washington is receiving the presidential Oath of Office from Chancellor Robert R. Livingston April 30, 1789.
Washington and His Cabinet
From left to right: General Henry Knox, Secretary of War; Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State; and Edmund Randolph, Attorney General.
J.P. Morgan and Co., 1890s
Junius Spencer Morgan had arranged to have his 34-year-old son J. Pierpont Morgan join Anthony Drexel’s Philadelphia brokerage and banking firm, and the new six-story white marble office was opened 1871 as Drexel, Morgan and Company. J.P. Morgan was, until his death in 1913, the most powerful figure in American finance.
Jim Fisk, 1835-72
The stock market speculator in the uniform of Colonel of the 9th Regiment of the New York Militia, 1870. The famous “Black Friday” of 1869 was caused by Jay Gould and Jim Fisk cornering the market in gold, then demanding the immediate payment from short sellers.
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The House of Orange-Nassau, the present royal family of the Netherlands dates back to Charlemagne. Nassau Street was named in honor of William III of the House of Orange-Nassau, who became King of England in 1689. This is a view of No. 7 and No. 11 in 1880. The Hanover Bank (far right) is at the corner of Pine Street, in what was then called the Duncan Building, demolished 1901.
1926 The roof of present Federal Hall National Memorial is in the lower left of this 1926 photograph. The 39-story Bankers Trust Building, built 1910-14, was one of the tallest buildings in New York upon completion, and its site cost $825 a square foot, then said to be the highest price ever paid for land in the world. Next to it at Nassau and Pine is the old 22-story Hanover Bank, built 1901.
Marker is at the intersection of Wall Street and Nassau Street, on the left when traveling east on Wall Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
