Wall Street, New York City

Original title: Bird's-Eye View of Wall Street about 1774. The following year, 13 British colonies in North America entered a war for independence. Illustration published in the Harper's Monthly Magazine, May, 1908, in the Wall Street in Colonial Times by Frederick Trevor Hill.

The Trinity Church, on Broadway, is wrongly represented by its second temple which was erected after the first temple was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1776. This engraving also represents the enlarged City Hall, the statue of Pitt William and the First Presbyterian Church. Broad, Hannover, Pearl and Water streets are also indicated. The William Pitt statue by English artist Joseph Wilton (1722-1803) was commissioned in 1768 and installed in September 7, 1770. It was partially destroyed in September, 1776.

Here some text from the magazine related to this image above: «...Wall Street, which had acclaimed the gorgeous inaugural processions of the incoming governors and speeded most of the retiring officials with jeers, had been altering its appearance for the better by abolishing the old slave market, which vanished in 1762, and in the same year street lamps were introduced. These public betterments were soon followed by the complete renovation of the City Hall and the removal of the whipping post, pillory, stocks, and cage, and with its house thus put in order Wall Street welcomed the first and perhaps the most notable assemblage recorded in the history of the United States.»