Day #5 – the Financial District

Today was great!  Walking around the financial district was very informative.   Foley (?) Square is where all the federal Buildings are located.  Right in the middle of the government buildings lays an African Burial Ground.  In 1991 a building was going to go up, but first they had to dig for the foundation.  I guess before a building is allowed to be built there has to see if the area will have any historical significance and the have to also do some scientific checks as well.   Turns out that about 17 feet down they found 450 skeleton remains, and the building could not be built.  These skeleton belonged to African Slaves they were buried sometime in the early 18^th century when New York was one of the Biggest Slave trades in the Americas.  Using this in the classroom I could show artifacts or pictures of Artifacts and have the students come up with a conclusion about what they were used for, or where they were from.  We can discuss what these artifacts tell us about the person, and depending on the grade we could look at the bones and try to g=figure out what it was like for a slave in the 18^th Century. My fiancé has one of the symbols tattooed on his arm that was etched into the wall.

We saw some buildings that were made out of cast-iron instead of Stone or iron.  They could only be built to a certain height, but there could be bigger windows.  Even at the turn of the 20^th Century men were trying to build higher and higher, and at one point the Woolworth Building was the tallest until the Chrysler building topped itself off with a 60 foot spire out reaching the 40 Wall Street building. 

St. Paul’s Chapel was built in 1766 and is the oldest building in Manhattan.  It holds one of two cemeteries in the Financial District.  It was an Anglican Church and turned Episcopalian after the United States was its one nation and they tried to break all ties with Britain and the Crown.  During 9-11 the Chapel allowed the firefighters to come and rest, eat, and pray while they were trying to save the people from the terrorist attack.  A special pew is reserved for the firefighters.  Not to mention that George Washington’s Pew is also located in the Chapel.

Just down the street is Trinity Church where Alexander Hamilton and his wife are buried.  Hopefully I can get back because we did not get to go inside.

In 1886 was the first ticker tape parade which was for the completion of the Statue of Liberty.  The Ticker Tape Parades were held on Broadway and all along the streets there are dates with names and events when the ticker tape parades happened.  Looking around at Broadway you see that the skyscrapers were very close together and after the construction of the Equitable Building the City of New York decided to create ordinances that would allow airflow and light into the area.  That just means that the builders have to work with the little area that they have, and that is why the Flatiron Building is the way it is because that is the piece of land they had.  Along with the urban planning lesson that I mentioned on day #2 along with the 5 zoning laws the students could also look at the height of the buildings as well. 

The New York Stock Exchange was different for the fact of all the security; I would have really liked to have at least gone into the entrance just to see the hustle and bustle of the trading floor.  The fact that the road had been closed to cars was very interesting.  It makes it harder for a car bomb.  Another was the J.P Morgan’s bank was across the street facing Federal Hall where George Washington was inaugurated and where the nation’s capital was located until at least a year later. When talking about the stock market crash of 1929 I will be able to explain that the road is not very big next to the stock exchange.  I would be able to compare and contrast the before and after pictures of the street. 

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