PREFATORY NOTE
The papers which form this volume, were written by request for the May, June and July numbers of the Magazine of American History of the current year. The purpose in their production was to give the busy reading public a concise, authoritative, and informing account of the rise and development of Wall Street. No similar sketch having ever appeared in print—touching in historic continuity the salient features of the famous locality, from its first brush-fence to its present gold vaults—the whole field of inquiry must necessarily be explored for the material, which was finally gathered from an almost infinite variety of fragmentary and original sources. The wealth thus exhumed, in the way of fact and incident, would have filled many volumes. But for the general convenience, and in order to meet the popular demand for much in a small compass, the labor of condensation has been cheerfully performed, that the many-sided subject, in all its primitive, picturesque, political, social, and monetary aspects, may be presented in one brief, comprehensive and rapid survey.
The first chapter covers the century of settlement and savage warfare—inclusive of the period when New York for nearly fifty years was actually a walled city. The second chapter is devoted to the vicissitudes of Wall Street in the exciting times of the Revolution, and to its history as the seat of fashion, aristocracy, and the State Government, and also as the seat of the National Government for six eventful years, with President Washington a familiar figure, in his chariot drawn by six horses. The third chapter treats of the financial institutions which have made the street famous throughout the civilized world. Many items of interest and figures never before grouped together will be observed—notably the
