HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Broad Street is a north–south street in the
Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
of Lower Manhattan in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. Originally the Broad Canal in New Amsterdam, it stretches from today's South Street to Wall Street. The canal drew its water from the
East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
, and was infilled in 1676 after numerous fruit and vegetable vendors made it difficult for boats to enter the canal. Early establishments on Broad Street in the 1600s included the
Fraunces Tavern Fraunces Tavern is a museum and restaurant in New York City, situated at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The location played a prominent role in history before, during, and after th ...
and the Royal Exchange. Later on the area became the center of financial activity, and all smaller buildings in turn were replaced with grand banks and stock exchange buildings. Most of the structures that stand today date from the turn of the 20th century, along with more modern buildings constructed after the 1950s.


History


1600s: New Amsterdam canal

Broad Street, formerly called ''Princess Graft'' in old New Amsterdam. Originally an inlet from the
East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
, the canal was flanked by two solid ranks of three-story houses, with paths in front. Built during the administration of Peter Stuyvesant, the Broad Canal was the original Manhattan landing of the first ferry between Manhattan and
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, later the Fulton Ferry.Nathaniel Scudder Prime
A History of Long Island: from its first settlement by Europeas, to the year 1845
/ref> The
Lovelace Tavern The Stadt Huys (an old Dutch spelling, meaning city hall) was the first city hall in New York City, United States. It was built in 1642 by the Dutch, when the settlement was named New Amsterdam. The building was used until 1679, when the struct ...
, in business from 1670 to 1706 and owned by the then- New York colonial governor Colonel Francis Lovelace, occupied part of the current site of 85 Broad Street; however, the bar itself only had frontage on Pearl Street. New York
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
Stephanus van Cortlandt Stephanus van Cortlandt (May 7, 1643 – November 25, 1700) was the first native-born mayor of New York City, a position which he held from 1677 to 1678 and from 1686 to 1688. He was the patroon of Van Cortlandt Manor and was on the governor' ...
built his home in 1671 on Broad Street, on the future site of
Fraunces Tavern Fraunces Tavern is a museum and restaurant in New York City, situated at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The location played a prominent role in history before, during, and after th ...
. Built as a one-story building in 1675, the Royal Exchange (later known as the Old Royal Exchange and the Merchants Exchange) was a covered marketplace located near the foot of Broad Street close to its intersection with Water Street.Suzy Maroon. ''The Supreme Court of the United States'', New York and Charlottesville: Thomasson-Grant and Lickle (1996), p. 18. 30 Broad Street was once owned by the
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
church which had erected the city’s second almshouse on the site before 1659. Broad Street was originally a
canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
first known as "Common Ditch" then later "The Prince’s Ditch". The canal was filled in 1676 because fruit and vegetable vendors, including Native Americans who came by canoe from Long Island, left the area littered, and fewer and fewer water craft were small enough to use the canal. The paths in front of the rows of houses by the canal were paved in 1676 as well. The road was first paved in 1693. The street saw a lot of change as the centuries progressed from
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
to
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
rule and finally independent America. Among the tenants of Broad Street in the 18th century was bookseller Garrat Noel.


1700s: Taverns and halls

The city's first firehouse for the
New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...
was built in 1736 in front of NYSE on Broad Street. Two years later, on December 16, 1737, the colony's General Assembly created the Volunteer Fire Department of the City of New York. The Broad Street building for the
Fraunces Tavern Fraunces Tavern is a museum and restaurant in New York City, situated at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The location played a prominent role in history before, during, and after th ...
was bought in 1762 by Samuel Fraunces, who converted the home into the popular tavern first named the Queen's Head. Before the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, the building was one of the meeting places of the secret society, the
Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...
. In 1768, the New York Chamber of Commerce was founded by a meeting in the building. After a rebuilt in 1752 that added a meeting hall on the upper story, the Royal Exchange building was the location of the Chamber of Commerce in the City of New York (later
Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York The New York Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1768 by twenty New York City merchants. As the first such commercial organization in the United States, it attracted the participation of a number of New York's most influential business leaders, in ...
) from 1770 until the Revolutionary War. The
United States District Court for the District of New York The following are former United States district courts, which ceased to exist because they were subdivided into smaller units. With the exception of California, each of these courts initially covered an entire U.S. state, and was subdivided as the ...
was one of the original 13 courts established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, and it first sat at the Royal Exchange (Merchants Exchange) building on Broad Street.Asbury Dickens, ''A Synoptical Index to the Laws and Treaties of the United States of America'' (1852), p. 386.U.S. District Courts of New York, Legislative history
'' Federal Judicial Center''. Accessed November 10, 2022.


1800s: Birth of the financial district

The 1835
Great Fire of New York The 1835 Great Fire of New York was one of three fires that rendered extensive damage to New York City in the 18th and 19th centuries. The fire occurred in the middle of an economic boom, covering 17 city blocks, killing two people, and destroyin ...
destroyed whatever historical buildings were left from the early times of New Amsterdam/New York. Much of the street was destroyed again in the Great New York City Fire of 1845. In the first two hours of the fire's spread, it reached a large multi-story warehouse occupied by Crocker & Warren on Broad Street, where a large quantity of combustible
saltpeter Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate Salt (chemistry), salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ...
was stored.Terry Golway, ''So Others Might Live: A History of New York's Bravest'', Basic Books, 2002, pp. 80-84."The Great Fire -- Additional Particulars"
''New York Daily Tribune''. July 22, 1845. page 2.
In July 1863,
From the History Box website.
Metropolitan Police: Their Services During Riot Week. Their Honorable Record.
By David M. Barnes.
the New York Draft Riot in Manhattan became the largest civil insurrection in
American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...
apart from the Civil War.Foner, E. (1988). ''Reconstruction America's unfinished revolution, 1863-1877. The New American Nation series'', p. 32, New York: Harper & Row Upon the outbreak of this riot,
Jacob B. Warlow Jacob B. Warlow (c. 1818 – August 27, 1890) was an American law enforcement officer, detective and police captain in the New York Police Department. A twenty-year veteran, he led police squads against rioters on the New York waterfront and later ...
and his police unit contended with a mob on Broad Street, with Warlow also helping quell other riots throughout the city from his station house on Broad Street. Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of New York''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 130–132) As the area became the center of financial activity, all smaller buildings in turn were replaced with grand banks. Most of the structures that stand today date from the turn of the 20th century. A
curb market The phrase curbstone broker or curb-stone broker refers to a broker who conducts trading on the literal curbs of a financial district. Such brokers were prevalent in the 1800s and early 1900s, and the most famous curb market existed on Broad Stre ...
of curbstone brokers became established on Broad Street in the mid-1800s, growing in part out of the Open Board of Brokers, previously in a building on New Street established in 1864. The Open Board was located at 16 and 18 Broad Street until 1869. After the Open Board joined the Consolidated Exchange, Open Board members specializing in unlisted stocks were left without "a roof over their heads and took to meeting casually in the course of the day in convenient lobbies in the inancialdistrict". In August 1865, a reporter described the curb market in front of the new exchange building on Broad Street. "There were at least a thousand people on the sidewalk and street... Buyer and seller, speculator and investor, operator and spectator, agent and principal, met face to face, upon the curb and beneath the sweltering sun, opened their mouths wide and screamed all manner of seeming nonsense at each other, while their hats tipped far toward the small of their backs, their eyes strained fiercely and their arms waved wildly above their heads, from which rolled rivers of profuse perspiration." In 1877, a new organization the New-York Open Board of Stock Brokers commissioned the same building at 16 and 18 Broad Street used by the old Open Board. The Mills Building was completed in 1882"The Mills Building", ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', February 3, 1882, pg. 8.
as a 10-story structure that stood at 15 Broad Street and Exchange Place, with an ''L'' to 35 Wall Street. It adjoined the building that was the home of Equitable Trust Company. It also adjoined the J. P. Morgan & Company Building on both Broad and Wall streets."34-Story, $12,000,000 Structure to Replace Mills Building, First Wall Street Skyscraper", ''The New York Times'', January 16, 1925, pg. 1. The curb brokers were ousted by a number of buildings as their numbers grew, until they ended up in front of the Mills Building entrance on Broad Street. The Mills building would be replaced by the Equitable Trust Building skypscraper in 1928. The Stock Exchange Luncheon Club was a members-only dining club of the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
(NYSE) founded on August 3, 1898 at 70 Broadway. It moved to the
New York Stock Exchange Building The New York Stock Exchange Building (also the NYSE Building), in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, serves as the headquarters of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It is composed of two connected structures occupyin ...
at 11 Wall Street in 1903.


1900–1921: Curb market boom

The
Broad Exchange Building The Broad Exchange Building, also known as 25 Broad Street, is a residential building at Exchange Place and Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The 20-story building was designed by Clinton & Russell a ...
at 25 Broad Street was built in 1900 to provide office space for financial companies including
Paine Webber PaineWebber & Co. was an American investment bank and stock brokerage firm that was acquired by the Swiss bank UBS in 2000. The company was founded in 1880 in Boston, Massachusetts, by William Alfred Paine and Wallace G. Webber. Operating with t ...
.SWIG realty summary of building
At the time of its completion it was the largest office building in Manhattan. In 1903, NYSE moved into new quarters at 18 Broad Street, between the corners of Wall Street and Exchange Place. In the mining boom of 1905 and 1906, the Curb market on Broad Street attracted some negative publicity for the "wholesale use of the Curb for swindling". As of 1907, the curb brokers intentionally avoided organizing. The curb brokers had been kicked out of the Mills Building front by 1907, and had moved to the pavement outside the
Blair Building The Blair Building, also known as the Blair and Company Building, was one of New York City's earliest skyscrapers. History It was constructed in 1902–1903. It was located at 24 Broad Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York ...
where cabbies lined up. There they were given a "little domain of asphalt" fenced off by the police on Broad Street between Exchange Place and Beaver Street, after Police Commissioner McAddo took office. As of 1907, the curb market operated starting at 10'clock in the morning, each day except on Sundays, until a gong at 3 o'clock. Orders for the purchase and sale of securities were shouted down from the windows of nearby brokerages, with the execution of the sale then shouted back up to the brokerage. The noise caused by the curb market led to a number of attempts to shut it down. In August 1907, for example, a Wall Street lawyer sent an open letter to the newspapers and the police commissioner, begging for the New York Curb Market on Broad Street to be immediately abolished as a public nuisance. He argued the curb exchange served "no legitimate or beneficial purpose" and was a "gambling institution, pure and simple". He further cited laws relating to street use, arguing blocking the thoroughfare was illegal. The ''New York Times'', reporting on the open letter, wrote that brokers informed of the letter "were not inclined to worry". The article described "their present ground on the broad asphalt in front of 40 Broad Street, south of the Exchange Place, is the first haven of which they have had anything like indisputed possession." In 1908, the
New York Curb Market Agency NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known ...
was established, which developed appropriate trading rules for curbstone brokershttp://abcnewspapers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11281 New York Curb Market Association under "curb agent" E. S. Mendels. In 1910, Mendels testified before the Wall Street Investigating Committee on behalf of the curb brokers, when an attempt was made to dislodge them from Broad Street. In 1908, 70 Broad Street, between Marketfield and Beaver Street, became the
American Bank Note Company Building The American Bank Note Company Building is a five-story building at 70 Broad Street (Manhattan), Broad Street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The building was designed by architects Kirby, ...
, the headquarters of the
American Bank Note Company ABCorp is an American corporation providing contract manufacturing and related services to the authentication, payment and secure access business sectors. Its history dates back to 1795 as a secure engraver and printer, and assisting the newl ...
. Built in 1913,, p.15 23 Wall Street or "The Corner", is an office building formerly owned by J.P. Morgan & Co. – later the
Morgan Guaranty Trust Company J.P. Morgan & Co. is a commercial and investment banking institution founded by J. P. Morgan in 1871. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the company is now a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest banking institutions in t ...
– located at the southeast corner of Wall Street and Broad Street. So well known as the "House of Morgan" – that it was deemed unnecessary to mark the exterior with the Morgan name. In 1920, journalist Edwin C. Hill wrote that the curb exchange on lower Broad Street was a "roaring, swirling whirlpool" that "tears control of a gold-mine from an unlucky operator, then pauses to auction a puppy-dog. It is like nothing else under the astonishing sky that is its only roof." After a group of curb brokers formed a real estate company to design a building, Starrett & Van Vleck designed the new exchange building on Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan between Thames and Rector, at 86 Trinity Place. It opened in 1921, and the curbstone brokers moved indoors on June 27, 1921.


1922–present

When the high-profile New York firm Edward M. Fuller & Company went bankrupt in 1922, it had offices at 50 Broad Street. Next to the New York Stock Exchange, in 1929, a new 50-story
Continental Bank Building The Continental Bank Building is a 50-story skyscraper at 30 Broad Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. It was completed in 1932 in the Art Deco style. It is next to the New York Stock Exchange Building. History Origin ...
was announced at 30 Broad Street (location of the former 15-story Johnston Building) to house the Continental Bank and Trust Company and various brokers. The building opened for occupancy on April 27, 1932. The now-famous sculpture ''
Charging Bull ''Charging Bull'', sometimes referred to as the ''Bull of Wall Street'' or the ''Bowling Green Bull'', is a bronze sculpture that stands on Broadway just north of Bowling Green in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The br ...
'' was installed on December 15, 1989 beneath a Christmas tree in the middle of Broad Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange as a Christmas gift to New Yorkers. After NYSE officials called police, it was later reinstalled two blocks south of the Exchange, in
Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
. In 2011, the
New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...
moved its offices to 75 Broad Street in Lower Manhattan. Some re-shooting for the film '' Money Monster'' took place in mid-January 2016 in New York City on William Street and Broad Street. On December 10, 2018 was installed in front of the NYSE building the sculpture '' Fearless Girl''.


Description

North of Wall Street, Broad Street continues onto Nassau Street. The two southernmost skyscrapers in Manhattan are 1 New York Plaza, on the west side of Broad Street, and 125 Broad Street, on the east. The famous neo-Roman facade of the
New York Stock Exchange Building The New York Stock Exchange Building (also the NYSE Building), in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, serves as the headquarters of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It is composed of two connected structures occupyin ...
and its main entrance is located on 18 Broad Street. Opposite it is the former J.P. Morgan headquarters at 23 Wall Street and
15 Broad Street 15 Broad Street (formerly known as the Equitable Trust Building) is a former office building in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, on the eastern side of Broad Street between Wall Street and Exchange Place. It has entrances a ...
, the latter of which has been converted into a luxury condominium. Other buildings of note are the
Broad Exchange Building The Broad Exchange Building, also known as 25 Broad Street, is a residential building at Exchange Place and Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The 20-story building was designed by Clinton & Russell a ...
at number 25, the
Continental Bank Building The Continental Bank Building is a 50-story skyscraper at 30 Broad Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. It was completed in 1932 in the Art Deco style. It is next to the New York Stock Exchange Building. History Origin ...
at number 30, the
Lee, Higginson & Company Bank Building The Lee, Higginson & Company Bank Building is a historic bank building located at 41 Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The structure was designed by architects Cross & Cross and built in 1928–1929. It ...
at number 37, and the
American Bank Note Company Building The American Bank Note Company Building is a five-story building at 70 Broad Street (Manhattan), Broad Street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The building was designed by architects Kirby, ...
at number 70.


Notable buildings

From north to south, notable buildings include: * 23 Wall Street *
15 Broad Street 15 Broad Street (formerly known as the Equitable Trust Building) is a former office building in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, on the eastern side of Broad Street between Wall Street and Exchange Place. It has entrances a ...
*
New York Stock Exchange Building The New York Stock Exchange Building (also the NYSE Building), in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, serves as the headquarters of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It is composed of two connected structures occupyin ...
at 18 Broad Street *
Broad Exchange Building The Broad Exchange Building, also known as 25 Broad Street, is a residential building at Exchange Place and Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The 20-story building was designed by Clinton & Russell a ...
at 25 Broad Street *
Continental Bank Building The Continental Bank Building is a 50-story skyscraper at 30 Broad Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. It was completed in 1932 in the Art Deco style. It is next to the New York Stock Exchange Building. History Origin ...
at 30 Broad Street *
Lee, Higginson & Company Bank Building The Lee, Higginson & Company Bank Building is a historic bank building located at 41 Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The structure was designed by architects Cross & Cross and built in 1928–1929. It ...
at 37 Broad Street *
45 Broad Street 45 Broad Street is a 68-story, supertall residential skyscraper being constructed in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. The building will become Lower Manhattan's tallest residential tower. Excavation started in 2017, but , con ...
- proposed skyscraper *
American Bank Note Company Building The American Bank Note Company Building is a five-story building at 70 Broad Street (Manhattan), Broad Street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The building was designed by architects Kirby, ...
at 70 Broad Street * Millennium High School at 75 Broad Street *
Fraunces Tavern Fraunces Tavern is a museum and restaurant in New York City, situated at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The location played a prominent role in history before, during, and after th ...
* 1 New York Plaza * 2 New York Plaza Notable former buildings have included: * Mortimer Building * Mills Building * Royal Exchange


Transportation

The Broad Street station ( trains) of the New York City Subway is located at the corner of Broad and Wall Streets.


See also

*
Marketfield Street Marketfield Street is a short one-way, one-block-long alleyway in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. The street begins as a southern branch of Beaver Street, then veers east and north, ending at Broad Street. Alternative past ...
*
William Street (Manhattan) William Street is a street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It runs generally southwest to northeast, crossing Wall Street and terminating at Broad Street and Spruce Street, respectively. Between Beaver Street an ...
* List of early skyscrapers * History of transportation in New York City *
Hard Hat Riot The Hard Hat Riot occurred on May 8, 1970, in New York City. It started around noon when around 400 construction workers and around 800 office workers attacked around 1,000 demonstrators affiliated with the student strike of 1970. The students ...
* Peter Stuyvesant


References


External links


Broad Street: A New York Songline
{{Financial District, Manhattan, state=collapsed Financial District, Manhattan Streets in Manhattan