When New York was New Amsterdam, the Dutch had a defensive wall running down to the river. After New Amsterdam became New York, the English (who weren't quite American yet), the wooden wall kept needing to be repaired, and, eventually, they just let it rot and named the street were it used to be Wall Street. Mr Monkey felt that the street was very narrow for the height of the buildings on it.
Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey. This page last modified 22 April 2005