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History of the Financial District

by | Feb 17, 2017

The metropolitan skyscrapers of modern Manhattan blink brilliantly into the night, yet a mere 400 years ago, Dutch farmers and adventurers lit fires inside simple homes in what is now known as the Financial District.

Suits and fancy shoes now march on streets where there were once canals, fish markets, and auspicious homes packed with Dutch farmers, British redcoats, and the first American citizens. Broad Street was originally a canal brimming with Dutch and American Indian vendors selling fish and vegetables, and delaying other transportation.

Dutch workers later filled in the canal, transforming Broad canal into a street flanked by 17th-century architecture, until the Great New York City Fire of 1845. Older buildings were replaced by the burgeoning banking industry as New York replaced the rubble with unique architectural skyscrapers that diverged from the homogeneity of Tribeca and SOHO.


609px-New_York_Stock_Exchange_1882 (1)PC: United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs

Just a few feet from Broad Street stands Federal Hall, where the first admonishment to the crown, in the form of a letter to King George regarding taxation without representation, was penned. The grandiose white columns of Federal Hall served as the background to the very first presidential inauguration in America- the swearing in of President George Washington.

Seven decades later, the current New York Stock Exchange emerged with a Greco-Roman facade among the soaring skyscrapers and modest homes, supplying New York City with $170 billion of daily transactions.

1200px-Federal_Hall_NYC_25
PC: U.S. Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission

Sequestered amongst the Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, and Subway Stops stands Fraunces Tavern, a birthplace of American independence. Originally the home of mayor Stephanus Van Cortland, the current building was built in 1719 and sheltered the Sons of Liberty secret society who met and founded the first New York chamber of commerce and imitated the Boston tea party by dumping tea into the New York harbor.

During the war, a cannon ball demolished the roof when revolutionaries fired at the British Royal Navy ship, HMS Asia. Post-conflict, the tavern sheltered George Washington as he bade farewell to the officers of the American Army with a turtle dinner. The tavern (and museum) has persevered through new renovations and deadly bombs in order to commemorate the founding fathers who pursued liberty in Fraunces’ halls.

Farewell to soldiers
PC: Alonzo Chappel – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

As many of the old structures were lost in the Great Fire and as humble constructions evolved into modern skyscrapers, soaring monuments conceal the last remnants of American history. However, the bones of English Governor Lovelace’s tavern are observable through glass walls under the Goldman Sachs building on Stone Street.

Great Fire of NYCPC: New York Historical Society
History permeates the streets of the Financial District, from decrepit taverns to stern statues of founding fathers, yet among the vestiges of revolution, there is a contemporary vitality from modern New Yorkers wandering the cobbled streets.


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