Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Understand
Clues to the Past
Manhattan's Financial District is more than just gleaming towers, stock markets and a lust for profit. It's New
York City's cradle and the setting for many important historical tales. Wall St once marked the northern boundary
of the fledgling Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. On it, Federal Hall is the very site on which George Wash-
ington became America's first president. Yet beneath these famous facts lie some lesser-known historical anec-
dotes.
What's in a Name?
Wall St is one of many streets harboring clues to the past. Originally known as Mother-of-Pearl St for the bounty
of iridescent shells found in the vicinity, crooked Pearl St traces the foot of a long-gone hill. The leveling of hills
became a common practice in the 18th century as Manhattan's population grew and demand for land increased.
Dug up and dumped into the East River, the soil created space for the aptly named Water St. By the end of the
18th century, the shore had been pushed back even further to create Front St. Home to the New York Stock Ex-
change, Broad St was once a canal, crossed by a bridge at… Bridge St.
Blast from the Past
Buildings too can tell a tale. Take the former headquarters of JP Morgan Bank on the southeast corner of Wall and
Broad Sts. The pockmarks on the building's Wall St facade are the remnants of the so-called Morgan Bank bomb-
ing - America's deadliest terrorist attack until the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. At exactly 12.01pm on
September 16, 1920, 500 pounds of lead sash weights and 100 pounds of dynamite exploded from a horse-drawn
carriage. Thirty-eight people were killed and around 400 injured. Among the latter was John F Kennedy's father,
Joseph P Kennedy. The bomb's detonation outside America's most influential financial institution at the time led
many to blame anticapitalist groups, from Italian anarchists to stock-standard Bolsheviks. The crime has never
been solved; the decision to reopen both the bank and New York Stock Exchange the following day led to a swift
clean-up of both debris and any crucial clues.
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Museum of Jewish Heritage
This waterfront memorial museum explores all aspects of modern Jewish identity, with of-
ten poignant personal artifacts, photographs and documentary films. Its outdoor Garden of
Stones - created by artist Andy Goldsworthy (and his first permanent exhibition in NYC)
- is dedicated to those who lost loved ones in the Holocaust. It holds 18 boulders that
form a narrow pathway for contemplating the fragility of life.
(
www.mjhnyc.org
; 36 Battery Pl;
MUSEUM
