Oil Rig on Main Street

During the oil boom of the 1920s in Texas, boom towns grew up where oil was found, and farmers on poor land became immensely wealthy over-night. A fascinating look at some of the players in this era is Jane Wolfe's The Murchisons: The Rise and Fall of a Texas Dynasty. Photo reproduced by permission of The New York Times Photo Archives; Underwood & Underwood.

Ford Motor Assembly Line

One of the first modern assembly lines was developed by Henry Ford and it enabled the fabrication of an automobile at a price many families could afford. Photo reproduced by permission of The New York Times Photo Archives.

Chicken Market on Hester Street

Like many immigrants to America, immigrant Jews moving to Hester Street opened small independently owned businesses to serve other immigrants. An excellent description of the life of immigrant Jews in New York at the turn of the century is Irving Howe's, World of Our Fathers. Photo by Bernice Abbott reproduced by permission from the Museum of the City of New York.

Black Tuesday on Wall Street 1929

On October 24, 1929, panic-stricken crowds milled around the Stock Exchange when the market crashed. Thousands throughout the nation lost billions of dollars as stock prices crumbled. All financial values collapsed, and the gigantic structure of the nation's prosperity fell into ruins. The mirage of quickly won wealth suddenly vanished. To millions of Americans the future seemed altogether bereft of hope. An excellent detailed description of the 1929 Crash, originally written for teenagers but equally fascinating to adults, is Karen Blumenthal's Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929: A Wall Street Journal Book for Children. Photo reproduced by permission of The New York Times Photo Archives.

In response to the stock market scandals following the 1929 crash, Congress enacted The Securities Act of 1933 to insure full disclosure about securities being issued. Even after the Securities Act of 1933, disclosure of financial information in public stock offerings seems woefully inadequate by today's standards. An example of a 1939 prospectus is enlightening; follow this link to a copy of the 1939 Canada Dry Prospectus which has only 6 pages of text and 2 pages of financial statements. At the time, that was viewed as full disclosure.

Transcontinental Railroad Completed

The first transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10, 1869, when the rails of the Union Pacific, from the east, and the Central Pacific Railroad, from the west, were joined. The telegraph spread the historic news with one word: "Done!". Before the Transcontinental railroad was completed, a journey from New York to San Francisco was hazardous and took over 3 months; after it was completed, the journey took only 7 days. It was the largest privately financed (though government supported) business venture in history and it created many fortunes and financial scandals. A excellent description of the entire venture is Steven Ambrose's Nothing Like It In the World : The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869. Photo reproduced by permission of The New York Times Photo Archives.