OCR Text |
Show BEGINNING 07 WALL STREET The question Is many times put, bt4 less often answered: "Why does Wal street happen to be the center of th . city's trading district V To aay thai it is largely on account of an elm tret that once stood at the head of Wal street may seem surprising, yet sucl is the case. " ' The tree In question was known bj the early Dutch settlers as ths "gTOot tree. It was standing many years after af-ter they landed In America and hag stood for centuries before. It was so big that six men with armi outstretched could barel., girdle It From the point where it stood th ground sloped away to east and west, affording a vlew of both the East and , North rivers, as well as to the south, In the direction of the bay. An easy bench bad been built around the trunk of the tree, and a taveri known as "Der Halle" stood close by. The tree soon became the favorite loaf lng place of the Dutch burghers, whg were accustomed to gather there, smoki their pipes and discuss the gossip ot ths day over their mugs of beer, whlli watching the farm women row theli . clumsy boats across the river from Long Island. Naturally enough, too, they talked business as well as gossip when seated around the tree, and the spot soon became be-came the recognized center of news and trade. As It was not convenient t have the actual bargaining and ex. change of goods that constituted th trade of that time done around th tree a space was cleared and set asldi for an exchange close by the tree. This was the authorized market ot the day. Just aa the stock market If now. It existed until the land was needed for building purposes, when the exchange was moved Indoors. v . The character thus given the E borbood has ever stuck to It and , .J street Is today Just ss much the UaA-tng UaA-tng center as It wag then. But the city founded by the Dutchmen has grown so In Importance that Wall street is no longer merely the center of New York's trade. It Is fast becoming the world's financial center New YorK Sun. |