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The First Wall Street: Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, and the Birth of American Finance
When Americans think of investment and finance, they think of Wall Street—though this was not always the case. During the dawn of the Republic, Philadelphia was the center of American finance. The first stock exchange in the nation was founded there in 1790, and around it the bustling thoroughfare known as Chestnut Street was home to the nation's most powerful financial institutions.
The First Wall Street recounts the fascinating history of Chestnut Street and its forgotten role in the birth of American finance. According to Robert E. Wright, Philadelphia, known for its cultivation of liberty and freedom, blossomed into a financial epicenter during the nation's colonial period. The continent's most prodigious minds and talented financiers flocked to Philly in droves, and by the eve of the Revolution, the Quaker City was the most financially sophisticated region in North America. The First Wall Street reveals how the city played a leading role in the financing of the American Revolution and emerged from that titanic struggle with not just the wealth it forged in the crucible of war, but an invaluable amount of human capital as well.
This capital helped make Philadelphia home to the Bank of the United States, the U.S. Mint, an active securities exchange, and several banks and insurance companies—all clustered in or around Chestnut Street. But as the decades passed, financial institutions were lured to New York, and by the late 1820s only the powerful Second Bank of the United States upheld Philadelphia's financial stature. But when Andrew Jackson vetoed its charter, he sealed the fate of Chestnut Street forever—and of Wall Street too.
Finely nuanced and elegantly written, The First Wall Street will appeal to anyone interested in the history of the United States and the origins of its unrivaled economy.
The First Wall Street recounts the fascinating history of Chestnut Street and its forgotten role in the birth of American finance. According to Robert E. Wright, Philadelphia, known for its cultivation of liberty and freedom, blossomed into a financial epicenter during the nation's colonial period. The continent's most prodigious minds and talented financiers flocked to Philly in droves, and by the eve of the Revolution, the Quaker City was the most financially sophisticated region in North America. The First Wall Street reveals how the city played a leading role in the financing of the American Revolution and emerged from that titanic struggle with not just the wealth it forged in the crucible of war, but an invaluable amount of human capital as well.
This capital helped make Philadelphia home to the Bank of the United States, the U.S. Mint, an active securities exchange, and several banks and insurance companies—all clustered in or around Chestnut Street. But as the decades passed, financial institutions were lured to New York, and by the late 1820s only the powerful Second Bank of the United States upheld Philadelphia's financial stature. But when Andrew Jackson vetoed its charter, he sealed the fate of Chestnut Street forever—and of Wall Street too.
Finely nuanced and elegantly written, The First Wall Street will appeal to anyone interested in the history of the United States and the origins of its unrivaled economy.
218 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2005
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About the author
Robert E. Wright
68 books10 followersWright is the Nef Family Chair of Political Economy at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 29, 2025
This is an excellent explanation of why a community needs financial institutions and why Philadelphia was a pioneer in their development in North America. The book loses its way after about 1800. The chapter on the death of the Second Bank of the United States presents one school of thought as absolute fact without any question. And a book on Philadelphia finance cuts off without mentioning Tony Drexel (1826-1893), which is incomprehensible.
December 10, 2015
This book perhaps tries to be too many things. Wright says that he wants this book to serve as an introduction to contemporary finance, and to its terminology about yields, dividends, preferred shares, and the like. But of course the terminology and habits of the early 19the century don't exactly provide a sure guide to those in the 21st. And the chatty tone of this introduction can grate ("Columbia was getting strong enough to kick John Bull's butt"). The book, published back in 2005, also tries to be an argument for the wonders and benefits of financial innovation, but this can ring a little hollow in the wake of the financial crisis. Even if one is convinced by most of Wright's arguments about the benefits, and I am, they are usually just that, arguments, asserted without much proof. Finally, the book is at its best when it makes a case for the forgotten primacy of Philadelphia in the financial world.
Philadelphia, with the help of Benjamin Franklin, of course created the first fire insurance plan, the Philadelphia Contributorship, in 1752. But they also had the first life insurance plans, in 1759, for Presbyterian ministers, and marine insurance underwriters, started by "Old Square Toes," Thomas Willing in 1757. After the revolution, the first commercial bank in the United States, the Bank of North America, was established in Philadelphia in 1781, followed of course by the two national Banks of the United States. Philadelphia also had the first savings bank (The Philadelphia Savings Fund Society), and the first building and loans, which explains why Philadelphia became a "city of homes." Wright also shows that historians have underestimated the financial importance of locating, and keeping, the first US Mint in Philadelphia, despite its innumerable scandals and failure to operate successfully until the 1850s.
Yet there are two startling absences in this book, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street is, of course, identified with the latter, and one would think Wright in this book would try to identify Chestnut Street with the former, but both hardly make an appearance. Wright says that Philadelphia's formed shortly before New York's famous 1792 Buttonwood agreement, but that it didn't really get going until the 1830s, and always lagged behind New York's. It made me wonder why "Wall Street" surged so far ahead, and Wright in this book just doesn't give a solid answer.
Philadelphia, with the help of Benjamin Franklin, of course created the first fire insurance plan, the Philadelphia Contributorship, in 1752. But they also had the first life insurance plans, in 1759, for Presbyterian ministers, and marine insurance underwriters, started by "Old Square Toes," Thomas Willing in 1757. After the revolution, the first commercial bank in the United States, the Bank of North America, was established in Philadelphia in 1781, followed of course by the two national Banks of the United States. Philadelphia also had the first savings bank (The Philadelphia Savings Fund Society), and the first building and loans, which explains why Philadelphia became a "city of homes." Wright also shows that historians have underestimated the financial importance of locating, and keeping, the first US Mint in Philadelphia, despite its innumerable scandals and failure to operate successfully until the 1850s.
Yet there are two startling absences in this book, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street is, of course, identified with the latter, and one would think Wright in this book would try to identify Chestnut Street with the former, but both hardly make an appearance. Wright says that Philadelphia's formed shortly before New York's famous 1792 Buttonwood agreement, but that it didn't really get going until the 1830s, and always lagged behind New York's. It made me wonder why "Wall Street" surged so far ahead, and Wright in this book just doesn't give a solid answer.
July 20, 2021
Who knew that before NYC, the financial hub of the US was in PA? Well, I guess people in finance would, but whatever! And, since the capital was in Philadelphia originally, it does make a lot of dense that business and banking would have found its way there too. So, I guess it's just me that is surprised.
This book takes the reader through the history and development of the banking system and details EVERY small detail of how our model came to be.
This was so boring, I wanted to drop dead while reading it. The book is deceptively thin, but as dry as anything in existence and has NO REAL PEOPLE in it to carry you through the tedious pile-on of facts and figures. Perhaps if I was more of a history buff or involved in the financial world I would have been more interested or even just able to stay awake. But, even trying to forge through this, I could not make it more than 25 pages at time.
This book takes the reader through the history and development of the banking system and details EVERY small detail of how our model came to be.
This was so boring, I wanted to drop dead while reading it. The book is deceptively thin, but as dry as anything in existence and has NO REAL PEOPLE in it to carry you through the tedious pile-on of facts and figures. Perhaps if I was more of a history buff or involved in the financial world I would have been more interested or even just able to stay awake. But, even trying to forge through this, I could not make it more than 25 pages at time.
October 24, 2008
Suspenseful! I didn't think you could say that about a book on history, since we all know the ending: we have banks, and a stock market, "Wall Street", etc. But leaning how it all started in Philadelphia (and was eventually continued in NYC) was really interesting. Looking forward to more from this author.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews