Wall Street showing Trinity Church, New York City, 1921

About this postcard

The view looks down Wall Street toward the brownstone spire of Trinity Church, with tall office buildings framing the street and pedestrians, a horse-drawn wagon, and an early motor vehicle in the roadway. Trinity Church, at Broadway and Wall Street, is the third church on the site, consecrated in 1846 to Richard Upjohn's Gothic Revival design. Its 281-foot spire made it the tallest structure in the United States when completed, and it remains a landmark of lower Manhattan. The surrounding commercial blocks reflect Wall Street's role as the nation's financial center in the early 20th century. The printed caption traces the street's name to the wall Peter Stuyvesant built in 1653 to defend New Amsterdam and calls Wall Street the "foremost financial center in the world."