Wall Street Panics and Crashes: A Walking Tour Nov 2

The annual guided walking tour of Lower Manhattan featuring the Great Crash of 1929, sponsored by the Museum of American Finance, will be held on Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 1 pm, (no tour in inclement weather).

This is the 26th anniversary of this unique tour, the only regularly-scheduled event that commemorates the Great Crash of 1929, the Panic of 1907 and the 1987 stock market collapse. It delves into the political, financial, real estate and architectural history of Wall Street and New York City.

The tour contrasts the 1987 market panic and its aftermath with today’s troubled financial situation 26 years later, and where the some of the major players are today. It also compares those periods with such historically significant events as America’s first panic started by Alexander Hamilton’s colleague, the periodic panics of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the 1920 Wall Street explosion, the Crash of 1929 and the 2008 crash.

The three-hour tour, which starts at the Museum, located at the historic 48 Wall Street (northeast corner of William Street), tells the story of such notable New York figures as Alexander Hamilton, Michael Milken, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Commodore Vanderbilt.

Starting with the discovery of New York by Henry Hudson and the vast importance of New York’s Dutch origins, the tour leaders explain the parallels between today’s headlines and such crucial events as Alexander Hamilton’s successful rescue of the nascent American securities market in the panic of 1792 and J.P. Morgan’s safeguarding the banking system and the stock exchange in 1907.  Also, learn about the sea change in Wall Street’s real estate: why some properties bought by speculators have been repossessed by their lenders; why so many of the Wall Street citadels of finance are being converted into apartments; and how foreign capital has shaped and continues to reshape Wall Street real estate.

Discover little-known facts about the area’s rich history, such as the story of how the Collector of the Port of New York, fired for incompetence and graft, only seven years later became President of the United States; the tragic tale of the model for “America” at the Old Customs House;  the missing and peripatetic statue of Abraham DePeyster, a prominent colonial mayor; and the failed Wall Street lawyer who became President and led the country out of the Depression

James S. Kaplan, an attorney and political historian, and Richard M. Warshauer, a commercial real estate executive and Wall Street aficionado, will conduct the tour under the auspices of the Museum of American Finance.  Kaplan and Warshauer have presented this walking tour since 1988.

Tickets are $15 each, payable at the start of the tour.  For advance tickets or information, please contact Tempris Small at the Museum of American Finance at tsmall@moaf.org  or 212-908-4110, or purchase tickets online at www.moaf.org/events.