The story of a street; : a narrative history of Wall street from 1644 to 1908, / by Frederick Trevor Hill.

THE STORY OF A STREET

extending as far west as William Street. From
this point the prospect gradually improved, the
Broadway end boasting some dwellings of neat
and attractive appearance, but the north side
remained entirely vacant save for four wholly
dissimilar structures. The first of these, on the
northwest corner of William and Wall streets,
was the property of Gabriel Thompson, a tavernw
keeper, beyond which loomed a huge, barn.like
affair erected by the Bayards in 1729, for what
they termed "the mystery of sugar refining"a mystery which Wall Street has not wholly
fathomed to the present day - and adjoining
this crude factory stood the most pretentious
building on Manhattan Island-the City Hallwhose foundations had been laid in I699 with
the stones taken from the bastions of the old
palisade. Beyond this, and almost adjoining it,
lay the Presbyterian Church, a substantial brick
edifice, and at the head of the street, on Broadway, squatted the ugly, square little wooden
building with a disproportionately tall steeple
which had sheltered the congregation of Trinity
Church since 1696.
Such was the condition of the street which
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