Wall Street

While there is much debate on how Wall Street originally got its name–some claim it was because of a wall the Dutch erected to keep Native American’s away from their growing colony at the southern tip of Manhattan, while others believe it to be an Anglicization of a common Dutch surname–few people can argue what the street’s name is synonymous with today: Wealth and capitalism. Since the late 19th century Wall Street has been home to many of the city’s most important financial institutions and stock exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. Though the street is less than a mile long, so you won’t have to travel far to see many of the financial district’s other iconic sites. Just around the corner from where Wall Street meets Broadway is Arturo Di Modica’s bronze three-and-half ton statue The Charging Bull, which Modica gave to the city as a symbol of America’s entrepreneurial spirit on December 15, 1980 under a Christmas Tree in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Two blocks north of Wall Street is the Federal Reserve Bank, where visitors can tour the gold vault, which holds over 500,000 gold bars, and learn about the bank’s history and importance, free of charge (reserve online in advance).