WALL STREET NINETY YEARS AGO
 

By Sturges S. Dunham

^^=^ HE views of Wall Street in the Manual for 1919,
^_J showing both sides from Broadway to William
Street, are the result of an attempt to give a gen¬
eral idea of the appearance of the street as it existed
about 1830, when many of the old residences were still
standing though given up to business uses. Wall Street
was regarded as the seat of fashion for a considerable
period after the Revolution, but as bootmakers and
harnessmakers and "porterhouses" and "cider vaults"
edged their way in, to say nothing of the bolder intrusion
of banks and insurance companies and stockbrokers, the
more fastidious gentry fled far up town to such quieter
localities as Park Place and Beekman Street.

The confused numbering of Wall Street in early days,
especially before 1793, makes it difficult, except in a few
cases, to identify the buildings by their numbers alone.
For instance, No. 5 was on the northwest corner of Wil¬
liam Street, No. 3 was on the site of the present Assay
Office, and at the same time the south corner of Broad¬
way was No. 67. Nevertheless, by the aid of informa¬
tion from other sources, such as advertisements, news
items, contemporary views, and real estate records, it has

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