192924–29 October 1929 · Wall Street, Lower Manhattan

Wall Street Crash

Crowds fill Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange on 24 October 1929 — Archival image: Associated Press. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

After a decade of speculation, much of it with borrowed money, share prices on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed over a few days in late October 1929, with record selling on Black Thursday and Black Tuesday. Banks failed, credit dried up and the slump spread through world trade into the Great Depression, which brought mass unemployment and fed extremist politics in Europe.

Social History
Political History
New York City, United States

Sites

Site 1: New York Stock Exchange BuildingColumned facade on Broad Street; the trading floor is closed to visitors.Map ↗
Site 2: Federal Hall National MemorialSteps opposite the exchange where anxious crowds gathered as prices fell.Map ↗