Wall street got its name because the early
Dutch settlers of
New Amsterdam feared attack from Indians and the British from
New England. So they built a wall. The British and the Dutch were at war in the 17th century (1652). The Dutch settlers feared if the British didn't themselves attack, they might hire Indian mercenaries to press an attack. The road that ran along the wall was called "Wall street". A wall stood along Wall street from 1653 to 1699, running from the
East river to the
Hudson river. No one every actually attacked the wall as the English and the Dutch back in the
motherland patched up their differences.
The wall work ended up creating a nice little road between the two rivers and it became a bustling commercial thoroughfare.
The original national
capitol was located on Wall street, 1785 until 1790. On the steps of Wall street's
Federal Hall George Washington was inaugurated. The
New York Stock Exchange was founded in 1817 and opened its first exchange at 40 Wall street.