There may be bigger, wider, and more celebrated streets in New York City than its narrow Wall Street. But when it comes to money and power, trade, investments, and big businesses, this diminutive street, in New York's financial and business district in downtown Manhattan, stands apart from the rest. It is the epicenter of all financial activities in the state, where fortunes are invariably made and lost every day. Also, it is this street along which America had made its first audacious architectural assertions. It is where the grandest of edifices – the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York – rub shoulders with each other. Around the corner is the Museum of American Financial History, which shares a subway stop with the World Financial Center. The street also has numerous brokerage houses, financial banks, insurance companies, and hotels and restaurants. Wall Street has some history as well, attached to its name. The street received its name from the 2,340-foot long by 12-foot high wooden wall, built in 1653, across lower Manhattan, in order to palisade the Dutch settlers against possible attacks from the British and Indians. The remnants of the colonial New York era can still be felt here, particularly in Trinity Church and ^St. Paul’s Chapel. Although the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, had a great impact in lower Manhattan, Wall Street is still one of the busiest and most visited parts of the New York City. The hustle and bustle along the street on a weekday afternoon is unmatched.