Great American Fortunes - Bernard Baruch: Lone Wolf of Wall Street

PHOTO: CUNY

It was customary for the titans of the 20th century to envelop themselves in immense, plush offices, reeking of leather and opulence. Bernard Baruch dispensed his advice from a bench at Lafayette Park across from the White House or at Central Park. But the recipients were not ordinary folk; they were presidents, senators, corporate kings and foreign dignitaries.

Although Baruch spent most of his years in New York, he had strong Southern roots. His father settled in South Carolina and served as a surgeon on Robert E. Lee's staff. Born in Camden, S.C. in 1870, Baruch lived a Tom Sawyer-like childhood before moving to New York when he was 10. An outstanding student, Baruch matured into a rugged 6-foot-3 athlete who loved to box and play baseball.

After graduating from college, Baruch, meaning “blessing” in Hebrew, headed to Wall Street. On an errand to Drexel, Morgan, he ran into J. Pierpont Morgan, the king of American banking. The man's awesome power inspired Baruch's determination to pursue a financial career.

Baruch became a preeminent speculator. He made no apologies for it. “The word comes from the Latin speculari -- to observe,” he said. “I observe.” One of his first coups, American Sugar Refining Co. in 1897, provided Baruch with enough funds to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.

Known as the “Lone Wolf of Wall Street,” Baruch played the market adroitly and quietly, making a fortune in railroad and mining stocks en route to becoming one of the five wealthiest men in America.

Baruch never lost his love for the South, purchasing Hobcaw Barony, a 17,000-acre plantation in South Carolina; his neighbors insisted he was more Southern than Northern. He spent several months a year at his “Garden of Eden,” entertaining such visitors as Winston Churchill and FDR.

Baruch met Woodrow Wilson in 1912, a meeting that changed the course of Baruch's life and possibly history. Baruch’s contributions to Wilson’s successful run for the presidency gave him entrée to the White House, unimpeded access that continued through successive presidencies all the way to John Kennedy.

In 1915 Baruch drafted a plan for economic mobilization that became the War Industries Board; he chaired it for three years. The board controlled the American industrial machine during World War I. Hindenburg was said to have suggested that Baruch “won the war for the Allies.”

Baruch accompanied Wilson to the Versailles Conference as his economic adviser and argued against imposing overbearing reparations on Germany. Unfortunately, Baruch’s advice went unheeded and the world subsequently paid an enormous price—World War II—for the excessive burdens imposed on Germany. Nevertheless, Wilson awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal and offered him a seat on the Cabinet as treasury secretary, an offer Baruch declined.

Churchill and Herbert Hoover were some of Baruch’s best friends. FDR was not. His Brain Trust resented Baruch, and Baruch’s relationship with FDR was strained; Baruch was too conservative for FDR’s New Deal.

 Baruch's last years were devoted to major philanthropic efforts, with special attention to medical schools and hospitals. He died in 1965.

© 2008 by Daniel Alef, syndicated columnist and award-winning author of “Pale Truth,” an American historical novel. Mr. Alef can be reached at dalef@titansoffortune.com.

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The New Sheriffs of Wall Street: Where Are They Now?

The New Sherriffs of Wall Street

In May, 2010, Time Magazine identified the “New Sheriffs of Wall Street” as three women whose jobs were to then clean up the Wall Street mess that was referred to as the “Great Recession”.  Included were Sheila Bair, the chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and one of the first federal regulators to publicly sound the alarm about the collapse a few years earlier; Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Mary Schapiro, the first woman to hold that post and the deciding vote to initiate the agency's lawsuit against Goldman Sachs; and Elizabeth Warren, chair of the panel monitoring the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bank bailout and the chief advocate for new consumer-finance regulations that banks and their allies have fought furiously to oppose.   These women may not have run Wall Street, but in this new era, they were getting Wall Street to clean up its act.

To quote the Time article:

“A few weeks back, at an event to celebrate the role of women in finance, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner tried to get things started with a joke. He said he had recently come across a headline that asked, "What If Women Ran Wall Street?"

“Now that's an excellent question, but it's kind of a low bar," Geithner continued, deadpan amid rising laughter. "How, you might ask, could women not have done better?"

It is rarely noted that the financial wreckage littering our world is the creation, almost exclusively, of men, not women. And no wonder: to this day, each of the large banks, from Citigroup to Goldman Sachs, employs fewer than a handful of women in senior positions, and only 3% of Fortune 500* companies have a woman as CEO. Embarrassing tales of a testosterone-filled trading culture tumbled out of the what-went-wrong probes as the Great Recession took hold“.

* Update:  According to Catalyst.Org, January, 2014, women currently hold 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEO positions and 4.6 percent of Fortune 1000 CEO positions.

Soon you will be able to visit one of the former “New Sheriffs of Wall Street”, Shelia Bair, and find out where she is now.  At another time, we will catch up with Mary Schapiro and Elizabeth Warren.

First serving under President Bush and later President Obama, Shelia Bair was the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation during one of the nation’s most turbulent economic eras in history, from 2006-2011.  After the 2008 collapse and upheaval of U.S. and global markets as well as venerable financial institutions, Chairman Bair worked to bolster public confidence and financial system stability that resulted in no runs on bank deposits. The FDIC did not turn to taxpayer borrowing to manage its losses and liquidity needs, instead funding them through its traditional means of assessing banks for the cost of insuring their deposits. The FDIC’s resolution practice of selling failing banks to healthier institutions, while providing credit support of future losses from failed banks’ troubled loans, saved the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund, tens of billions of dollars over losses it would have incurred if the FDIC had liquidated those banks.

Her efforts established her as an ardent advocate and innovator of policies to end the doctrine of too-big-to-fail and taxpayer bailouts.

A working mother and lawyer hailing from Kansas, Bair’s illustrious Curriculum Vitae reads like a Who’s Who in public life:  among her positions were counsel to Senator Bob Dole in his Washington office; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets; and executive level positions at the Government Relations of the New York Stock Exchange; The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and in academia - the Dean’s Professor of Financial Regulatory Policy at UM Amherst.

Shelia Bair, former Chairperson of the U.S. FDIC.
with Ben Bernanke & Hank Paulson

When Bair’s term at the FDIC was over she left in 2011, first serving as an adviser to the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts,  then leading a new private sector group called the Systemic Risk Council whose mission will be to encourage reform.   Here in the U.S., the Dodd-Frank law was designed, in part, to eliminate systemic risk - that is, the idea that the failure of one institution could be big enough to bring down an entire economy. Implementing financial reform has taken longer than expected, though, and that has many watchdogs increasingly on edge.

Traditionally issues are raised as one moves from regulator to regulated.  

In order to avoid conflicts, Ms. Bair has decided not to work for a financial services firm in the United States.

Earlier this year, Bair joined the board of Spanish bank Santander, one of the largest banks in Europe with vast operations in the U.S., having amassed a number of banks in the wake of the financial crisis.

“I hope that my service on the Santander board will provide yet another avenue for continuing my commitment to reforming the global financial system and contributing to a safer, more responsible, and customer oriented banking system,” Bair said in a statement.

At Santander, Bair, as an independent director, will help advise on the running of a bank whose asset base is as big as the Spanish economy and with the biggest market value of any lender in the euro zone. 

Tim Geithner isn't alone in asking the question, What if women, not men, were the real powers on Wall Street? With the successful tenures of Bair, Schapiro and Warren, we are finally getting an answer.  They were fabulous!

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Win tickets to the Dec 2nd Wall Street Rocks Benefit Concert

Download this flyer image and share it on your social media for a chance to win tickets! Tag WSRocks on Facebook, or @wallstrocks and #wallstreetrocks on Twitter

Handing out flyers on Wall Street!

Wall Street Rocks is a benefit concert taking place December 2nd at Irving Plaza. Performing will be: Sugar Ray, Riffhanger, Big Dog Party & The Darrens. The concert benefits several worthy charities: the Wounded Warrior Project, Reserve Aid and Operation Finally Home. Buy tickets and find out more here: www.wallstreetrocks.org

For a chance to win tickets, download our image of the concert flyer above and post it to your own social media account!
When you post to Facebook, make sure to Like & tag WSRocks. When you post to Twitter or Instagram, tag @wallstrocks and hashtag #wallstreetrocks

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Panic of 1907 Begins October 19

37 Wall Street, once the Trust Company of America building.

A crash is a sudden collapse or fail, as in that of a financial enterprise.

A panic is “a sudden fright with or without cause” that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals. It may occur in asset markets and involve a rush to convert to more liquid assets (cash).

Financial crises may involve one or both of the above, and it can be in any order.

In this series of posts, we will commemorate the Panic of 1907 by blogging stories of the Panic as they occurred over roughly two weeks in October.

In 1907, J. P. Morgan was very much like today's Warren Buffet. People looked at him for leadership. The 1907 Panic found J. P. at an Episcopal Church Convention in Richmond, Virginia. During the conference, his office kept him abreast of what was happening on Wall Street. Even thought JP was needed, his partners feared a premature return to New York might in itself touch off a panic.

J. P. Morgan

By Saturday October 19th, he decided to rush back to New York by private railroad car. Within two weeks he had saved several trust companies, a leading brokerage house, bailed out New York City and rescued the New York Stock Exchange.

37 Wall Street is the original home of the Trust Company of America, one of the distressed banks rescued by J. P. Morgan during the Panic of 1907. The panic was blamed on many factors – tight money and excessive speculation in copper, mining and railroad stocks. The immediate weakness came from the recklessness of the trust companies.

In the early 1900s, national and most state chartered banks couldn’t take trust accounts (wills, estates and so on) but directed customers to trusts. Traditionally they were synonymous with safe investment.

By 1907 they had exploited every loophole in the law and became highly speculative. To draw money to speculative ventures, they paid exorbitant interest rates. They loaned out so much against stocks and bonds that by October 1907 almost 50% of bank loans in New York were backed by securities as collateral, giving them an extremely shaky base. The trusts also did not keep the high cash reserves of commercial banks and were vulnerable to sudden runs.

Our next post will discuss the fallout from the panic on October 19th.

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Wall Street Coin, Currency and Collectibles Show takes place October 17-19, 2013

The Wall Street Collectors Bourse, a show for lovers of financial history, made its debut at the Museum of American Finance in October 2011, and Bourse II was held October 18-20, 2012. Successful beyond expectations, it will be held there again October 2013. The Museum is open free to the public during the event. With its fascinating financial exhibits, MOAF provides an ideal setting for this numismatic show. Museum visitors and students discover the Bourse and bring new interest to the different numismatic collecting hobbies. The theme of Bourse III, “The Romance of Wall Street,” relates financial collectibles to the history of Wall Street and New York City. Archives International Auctions will again host an exciting auction during the Bourse event.

The Wall Street Walks walking tours meet across the street from the Museum, so this is a great opportunity to get more bang for your buck on Wall Street- stop into the Museum and check out the Bourse an hour before your tour begins!

Event:	Wall Street Coin, Currency and Collectibles Show III (formerly Wall Street Collectors Bourse)
Dates and Times:	Thursday, Friday, Saturday, October 17-19, 2013
Place:	Museum of American Finance 48 Wall Street, New York City
For information:	Wall Street Collectors Bourse, Event Organizer info@wallstreetbourse.com

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Black Friday: September 24, 1869 - Madams, Moguls and Mediums

Gold prices on a blackboard from the NY Gold Room on Black Friday

Today when Americans talk about Black Friday, we are referring to the big shopping day after Thanksgiving in November. This is a day when many Americans venture out to the shops to begin spending money on Christmas gifts for their families.

The term Black Friday has an older, darker, more salacious meaning though: in 1869, there was a crash on Wall Street that was so sudden and harmful that it resulted in many suicides. The story of the original Black Friday- the crash- involves moguls, mediums and madams entangled in a bizarre set of circumstances.

Josie Mansfield

In the 19^th century, rich and powerful men in New York often frequented brothels to avail themselves of the services of the working girls. The madams running these establishments got wise to the possibilities of hosting such men regularly. The girls were trained to extract financial information from their patrons while giving the impression that they were not even listening or understanding what they were hearing. Unbeknownst to these traders, businessmen and political heavyweights, every morsel of information they divulged was being passed to the madam.

Victoria Woodhull

One such working girl was named Josie Mansfield, a friend of Victoria Woodhull. Woodhull was a

successful and well-known fortune teller, and went on to become the first female owner of a Wall Street brokerage firm. Josie became the mistress of financier Jim Fisk, who was a competitor to notable industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt. Fisk and his partner Jay Gould cooked up a scheme to drive up the price of gold and turn a quick profit by selling at a peak price. Essentially the scheme involves buying enormous quantities of gold, thereby driving prices up. Once the prices reach an acceptably high level, the schemers sell their share and collect a tidy profit.

Jim Fisk

Josie learned of this scheme, of course, from Fisk, and informed her friend Victoria Woodhull. Woodhull was very smart in terms of investing yet she was still selling her services (very successfully) as a medium. Woodhull came to Vanderbilt “in a trance” and advised him to buy gold at $132. Vanderbilt pulled together all of the cash he had and managed to buy $9.5 million worth of gold at $132. This was early in the week.

By Wednesday afternoon, the price of gold had risen to $141. Thursday morning, Fisk and Gould met at Josie’s house to plan their scheme. They decided to buy as much gold as possible and then sell it when it reached $150. They carried out their purchase through anonymous brokers.

On Thursday evening, Woodhull, armed with more exact information, visited Vanderbilt once more and advised him to sell at $150.

On Friday, upon the opening of the market, gold was valued at $150 and Vanderbilt sold his share at a profit. By late morning, the price of gold was at $160.

Gold. Chased for centuries.

Part of Fisk and Gould’s plan involved an Assistant Treasurer named Butterfield who was in on it and stood to profit himself off of this scheme. When the price of gold had hit $162, Butterfield knew he had to inform Washington of the circumstances. The government, in response, instructed Butterfield to sell their shares of gold the following day. Butterfield secretly informed Fisk and Gould, allowing them to sell their shares and make their profit. Butterfield then publicly announced the government’s plan to sell their gold the next day, instantly devaluing the gold price from a high of $162 all the way back down to $132.

Fisk and Gould turned a profit through the scheme. Their chief competitor Vanderbilt did as well, although he did not know he was being fed Fisk & Gould’s info. The rest of Wall Street was left in ruins. The rapid devaluation bankrupted several investment houses and by midnight, 25 people had committed suicide, earning September 24, 1869 the name “Black Friday.”

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Muriel Siebert, Wall Street Pioneer, Dies at 80

Muriel Siebert, Wall Street Pioneer, Dies at 80.

Muriel Siebert is to Wall Street what Barbara Walters is to television news: a female pioneer in a traditionally male-dominated industry. Today we mourn the passing of a truly iconic and admirable woman.

Muriel Siebert was born September 11, 1932 in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Case Western Reserve University. She left in her junior year when her father was diagnosed with cancer. She came to NY with her Studebaker and $500 in her pocket.

She started her career as a $65/week trainee in research at Bache & Co. She went on to become an industry specialist in airlines and aerospace. At the time, she was paid much less than her male colleagues, despite doing the same work as them. The only way to make more money was to work for herself.

She created Muriel Siebert & Co., Inc and applied for membership on the NYSE. The stock exchange held up her membership for months while they demanded a letter from a bank committing to lending her $300,000 of the record $445,000 seat price. But, no bank would give her a letter without proof that she would be admitted. Siebert was turned down by nine of the first ten men she asked to sponsor her application. Eventually, David Rockefeller, then Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, personally signed a check to her to cover the cost.

On December 28, 1967, Muriel Siebert became the first woman in history to own a seat on the floor of the NYSE. This triumph was not well taken by Wall Street, and many derogatory articles about her physical appearance appeared in the various newspapers.

 In 1975, when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) first permitted broker commissions to be negotiable, Siebert and Co. became the nation's first discount broker. Siebert took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal and appeared in that ad herself, cutting a hundred-dollar bill in half as a symbol of her discount philosophy. As a result, her long-time clearing house dropped her, and she was briefly threatened with expulsion from the NYSE by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 In 1977, Muriel Siebert became the first female Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York, with oversight of all of the banks in the state, regulating about $500 billion. Not one bank failed during her tenure, despite failures nationwide.

In honor of Siebert's 30th anniversary on the New York Stock Exchange, she rang the closing bell on January 5, 1998. Likewise, on December 28, 2007, exactly 40 years after her election to the membership of the New York Stock Exchange, she rang the closing bell in celebration.

Today we mourn the death of Muriel Siebert and honor her for her lifetime of pioneering work. She was indeed a remarkable woman and would serve well as a role model for today's girls. In a time of dubious accomplishments and vacuous and meaningless fame, we would all be better off prizing Siebert's determination, bravery and fierce pursuit of professional success.

What is Federal Hall?

Federal Hall

What is Federal Hall?
Federal Hall history is fascinating and goes back to the very inception of America. Sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the modern skyscrapers around it, the Federal Hall architecture is the first indication that this is one of the oldest and most important buildings in downtown New York City. To learn more Federal Hall facts, watch our video below:

The Buttonwood Agreement in 1792 Gave Birth to the New York Stock Exchange

By early 1792, Wall Street was enjoying its first bull market. Several merchants, encouraged by the increased activity, kept a small inventory of securities on hand that would be sold over the counter like any other of their wares. Today’s over-the-counter market got its name from this early form of trading. Business was booming. Some days as many as 100 bank shares would be traded. Things were at times very chaotic and businessmen realized that it needed to be organized.

On May 17, 1792, twenty-four men signed a document they called “The Buttonwood Agreement”. In the agreement they agreed to trade securities only amongst themselves, to maintain fixed commission rates, and to avoid other auctions. The Buttonwood Agreement turned trading into a member’s only activity. The Buttonwood Agreement signers are considered to be the original members of the New York Stock Exchange. Trading took place outside, under the tree, until the Tontine Coffee House was completed the following year in 1793. The Tontine Coffee House was located at the northwest corner of Wall and William Streets.

The Buttonwood tree stood outside at about 68 Wall Street today. The tree stood on Wall Street until June 14, 1865 when it fell over during a storm. The news was treated like the death of a family member, and it was was widely reported in all the local media.

“LITTLE SYRIA” - NYC's Forgotten Neighborhood

Friday, May 3, 2013 - Monday, May 27, 2013
3LD Art & Technology Center
80 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10006

“LITTLE SYRIA" NEW YORK CITY

by Wall Street Walks Tour Guide Marie Beirne

In the 1980’s, when I worked at NASDAQ on the 98^th Floor of Two World Trade Center, every evening I waited for the x90 express bus to Yorkville, in front of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church which once stood across Liberty Street from the South Tower.

I have very fond memories of that divine and beloved little church, surrounded on three sides by the parking lot…looking a little lonely and frail, all by itself, especially at nightfall.

Tonight, at a lecture,  I found out that after 9/11, when workers got to the foundation of the destroyed St. Nicholas’,  buried in the rubble, they found artifacts of an old church, the cornerstone of St. Joseph's from “Little Syria”, New York City. The cornerstone now resides in Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral in Brooklyn Heights.

It is rare for New Yorkers to be surprised with news of an old neighborhood you never heard of before…what a delight the discovery of “Little Syria” was for the audience.

On April 30 at the 9/11 Tribute Center, Linda Jacobs, author, archaeologist, and an expert on the Syrian immigrant community in New York City, and Todd Fine, co-founder of the “Save Washington Street,” preservation campaign presented “Little Syria’: Lower Manhattan Before the World Trade Center,” a discussion on the history of the neighborhood in the southwestern corner of Lower Manhattan.

Beginning in the late 1800’s, the neighborhood developed a flavor of the Arab world from which many of the immigrants originated.  Their entrepreneurial spirit transformed the neighborhood, which came to be known as “Little Syria”, into a thriving community lined with shops and coffeehouses. Many of these immigrants owned small restaurants and grocery stores and had easy access to the docks where produce was brought in on boats from New Jersey.  Each furnished with signs written in their native Arabic.  Here bilingual Arab-Americans raised their families, educated their children, formed religious and community organizations and gradually became part of the life of the city of New York.

Eventually the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the World Trade Center displaced the folks in this neighborhood who moved to Atlantic Avenue and other neighborhoods of Brooklyn. 

Most New Yorkers, and even many Lebanese-Americans and Arab-Americans, are unaware that Lower Manhattan — along Washington Street from Battery Park through the 9/11 Memorial to Chambers Street — was once the center of Arab-American life in the United States, from the 1870s to the 1940s called “Little Syria” or the “Mother Colony.”

Today, only three buildings from that era remain and are physically connected: 103 Washington Street, an Arab church that served as a Irish bar for many years.   The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building a New York City landmark on July 14, 2009. 

Two other remaining buildings: 105-107 Washington Street, a community house inaugurated by the governor of New York Al Smith to serve the “Little Syria” neighborhood; and 109 Washington Street, a tenement building still containing apartments are now part of an active campaign by Save Washington Street [http://savewashingtonstreet.org/history/] a national coalition of organizations and individuals advocating for the preservation of the last two sites.

While the coalition’s first objective is to achieve the landmark designation of the community center at 105-107 Washington Street, already advocated by Community Board 1 of New York City, the long-term goal of the coalition is to improve education about this diverse neighborhood, and about Arab-American history .

Be sure to discover “Little Syria” for yourself, starting on May 3, and continuing through May 27, the Arab American National Museum (based in Dearborn, Michigan) will present at the 3LD Art & Technology Center (80 Greenwich Street) an exhibition documenting the neighborhood's history.

Join Wall Street Walks on one of our guided walking tours to uncover more of the many, many secrets of NYC. We offer an exciting peek at the New York no one else knows! 

Remembering September 11, 2001

The night before, Michael Jackson performed his 30^th Anniversary Special at Madison Square Garden and Yankees fans were disappointed when the game with their biggest rivalry, the Boston Red Sox, was rescheduled due to rain. The next morning, of course, was gorgeous.

That day, September 11, 2001, people all over New York City made their way to work humming Billie Jean and crossing their fingers against another rainout in the last moments of “life before.” Then, between 8:46 and 10:03 AM EST, four planes crashed into our beloved Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, over 2,500 lives were lost and countless others were irrevocably changed in the worst terrorist attack in United States history.

Eleven years later, the construction is humming on the site of the new World Trade Center and the Freedom Tower is standing tall over the Wall Street area as it nears completion. Life in NYC is back to normal … but it’s a new normal for those of us who remember the days after, when the streets were quiet and we all took a little extra time to check in with everyone we passed.

Our new normal is one in which we love our city more than ever and take tremendous pride in honoring New York’s rich history, and her future, with people from all over the world. Join us for a Wall Street Walks tour and let us share a little bit of our New York City with you. Click here to learn more: https://www.wallstreetwalks.com/tours_main.html

The Curb Market

Way before the New York Stock Exchange moved into it’s current home at 11 Wall Street, trading was done in an outdoor space at 30 Broad Street known as The Curb Market and the traders were known as the New York Curb Market.

For almost ten years traders bought and sold shares outside until they moved indoors on July 27, 1921, to a building in Lower Manhattan. Led by, Edward McCormick, the Curb Market’s chairman, brokers ceremoniously marched up Wall Street to their newly completed building on Trinity Place behind Trinity Church.

In 1929, the New York Curb Market changed its name to the New York Curb Exchange and soon became the top international stock market. Years later in 1953, they renamed themselves once again and became the American Stock Exchange. 

A Big Week in New York History

This week is a big one in New York history. Back in 1916, Wall Street lost its Witch, Hetty Green, on July 3. Green was the first female tycoon in the US and was known around town as the “Witch of Wall Street.” An heiress to a multi-million dollar fortune, she was infamous for her stinginess and was rumored to go so far as to never use hot water and to ask her laundress to only wash the dirtiest parts of her dresses to save on soap.

On Wednesday, we celebrate the Fourth of July in honor of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and our official separation from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. If you’re in the city, pay tribute to our country on a 90-minute tour of historic Wall Street and Ground Zero, or a 2-hour tour of Wall Street and the 9/11 Memorial. Afterwards, make your way to the West Side to stake out your claim to watch the stupendous fireworks display along the Hudson from 16^th Street all the way up to midtown. 

July 7, New York celebrates the 249^th birthday of its first multi-millionaire, one-time opium smuggler, John Jacob Astor. Born in Waldorf, Germany, Astor migrated to the US after the Revolutionary War. Arriving at age 21, with no money to speak of, he soon made a fortune in the fur trade. By the time of his death in 1848, John Jacob Astor was the richest man in the country.

Two noteworthy New York events happened on July 8^th. The first is another birthday – John D. Rockefeller was born in 1839. He is the senior of the Rockefeller dynasty and is one of New York’s most acclaimed philanthropists. With only $2000, Rockefeller formed his first partnership in 1859, and just four years later they were running their own oil refinery. In 1870, when Rockefeller organized The Standard Oil Company at the age of 31, the business had a capital of $1 million.

Also on July 8, we commemorate the first edition of the Wall Street Journal. Volume 1, Number 1 was published in 1889 and the price was two cents. Today it is #1 most-read newspapers, with a daily circulation of over 2,000,000 copies worldwide. Though it’s named after the street in New York’s financial district, the WSJ headquarters are now located on Sixth Avenue near Rockefeller Center.

Jesse Lauriston Livermore, the Great Bear of Wall Street

June 26th marks the 135th birthday of Jesse Lauriston Livermore, the “Great Bear of Wall Street.” Known as one of the greatest traders of all time, Livermore’s life and career were a dedication to the study and mastery of stock and commodity movement and prices.

For Jesse, life began in rural Massachusetts where he was the child of a poor farmer, seemingly doomed to repeat the same fate as his father. At 14, with his mother’s blessing and her $5, he ran away from home to escape the hardship of life on a farm.

His stock market success started that same year in “bucket shops,” gambling halls where Livermore made over $1000 (over $20,000 by 2012 standards) placing bets on stock prices before he ever actually bought or sold a single share. Once he began trading in legitimate markets, Livermore both earned and lost millions upon millions of dollars.

Jesse Livermore is quoted as saying that his losses were the result of not listening to his own advice. At the height of his fortune, his worth was in the billions by today’s standards. Although his death was over 70 years ago, Livermore’s book, “How to Trade in Stocks,” is still listed among the top books ever written on finance and Wall Street.

Summer in New York City

Summer in New York is such an exciting time. The days are long, the nights are cool and the city is bursting at the seams with exciting, fun outdoor activities to suit every taste imaginable.

If you’re in the city and looking for a way to celebrate the warm weather – may we suggest a Wall Street Walks tour? Not only is it amazing to stroll around the bustling streets of New York, you can visit the celebrated landmarks where America was born. Learn how an 18th century bazaar became the greatest financial center of the world. Walk in the footsteps of America’s forefathers and stand in the shadow of the rebirth of Ground Zero.

Another one of our favorite NY summertime activities is the River To River Festival held in locations across Lower Manhattan. Kicking off on June 17, the 2012 River To River Festival will host hundreds of events including live music, theater, dance and other cultural happenings through July 15.

This summer, treat yourself to a real downtown New York experience. Explore the rich and exciting history of the Wall Street Area then enjoy one of the great River To River Festival shows. Make a day of it … you’ll be glad you did!

75th Anniversary of the Death of John D. Rockefeller

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the death of John D. Rockefeller. Once known as the richest man in the world, Rockefeller gave over 500 million dollars to a variety of causes including education, science and religion institutions.

Born in Richford, New York, Rockefeller was an enterprising man who built his first oil refinery near Cleveland and incorporated Standard Oil Company when he was just 31 years old. His son, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was his only heir and he carried on his father’s legacy of philanthropy.

In 1901 John D. Rockefeller, Jr. created Rockefeller University in NYC and during World War II, helped establish the USO for the troops. Later, Rockefeller Jr. personally funded the construction of Rockefeller Center, creating over 75,000 jobs during the depression, and establishing what is now a world-famous landmark in the center of midtown Manhattan.

Washington Inauguration

On April 30, 1789, just a few short weeks after the first United States Congress met at Federal Hall in to establish the first American government, George Washington stepped out onto an upstairs balcony and was sworn in as the first President of the United States.

Located in the heart of New York City’s financial district, Federal Hall is where America’s forefathers wrote the Bill of Rights and it served as a home for the Supreme Court and other city government offices until it was demolished in 1812.

The building that is now located on Wall Street was initially used as a Customs House but now is the home to Federal Hall National Memorial, a museum and memorial honoring the first President and the rich history of the United States.

Starting April 30 and lasting through May 2012, Federal Hall will be celebrating George Washington as well as the days when New York City was the national capital.

Broadway Festive as New Yorkers Celebrate Superbowl Champions NY Giants

  

It seems all of New York turned out yesterday for the ticker tape parade celebrating the New York Giants' Superbowl Championship. The crowd was thick with blue jerseys, and the kids threw toilet paper back and forth across Broadway as everybody waited for the parade to begin. Sidewalks on either side of Broadway were absolutely packed with Giants fans, starting south of the Wall Street Bull and headed north, all the way up the Canyon of Heroes to City Hall and Chambers Street.

Despite the huge turnout (reports say over one million people lined Broadway), the crowd was well-controlled. It seemed, for the most part, that everyone was happy to skip work for the morning and celebrate the hometown heroes. Eli Manning, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo spent the morning riding on the same float headed uptown, hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy high for photos.

To see the rest of our images from the Giants ticker tape parade, click here.

The clowns on Wall Street

You never know who you might find on Wall Street each day. Clowns need to eat lunch, just like businessmen.

Wall Street Walks Tour: Atop the Steps of Federal Hall

One of the stops on each Wall Street Walks guided walking tour is 26 Wall Street, now known as Federal Hall. This location has been an important site in the history of the United States from the very beginning, and in later blog posts we will discuss all that has transpired here. The U.S. Capitol building once stood on this site, back when New York City was the capitol of the United States. That building was later demolished and the New York Customs House was built on the site.
Here, tour guide Annaline Dinkelmann speaks to her tour group on the very same spot that many newscasters use when reporting on the goings-on of Wall Street. The elevation of the steps, and the NYSE in the background, make for a perfect spot to discuss the intricacies of Wall Street.
To learn more about the history of Wall Street, click through and buy a ticket to a Wall Street Walks guided tour.