In the U.S., when we think of Wall Street, we think of New York City and stock exchanges like the NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange, and the American Stock Exchange, but, at times there have been other exchanges around the United States. The 1922 edition of Investment Bankers and Brokers of America includes information on 31 exchanges located throughout the country along with information on investment banking firms.
Looking at the information on the New Orleans Stock Exchange, there are lists of the officers and the securities traded, which reflect the city’s diverse business interests. They include banks like Hibernia and Whitney, insurance companies, foreign governments, various U.S. government entities, railways, and companies with locally recognizable names like Maison Blanche and D.H. Holmes. While no address for the exchange is given, other sources indicate that the address that year was 740 Gravier St., near the Cotton Exchange, Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance, Hibernia, and Hennen buildings. This was the heart of the business district, in area called the New Orleans Wall Street or the Cotton District, where streets had names like Camp, Carondelet, Gravier, St. Charles, and Poydras.
The exchange had moved into their then-new building on Gravier St. in September 1906. An article in the September 1, 1906, Times-Picayune provided a few visual details. The façade of the building was marble with double mahogany doors and marble figures representing industry and commerce above the doorway. The interior featured mahogany furniture, a marble fireplace, two gilt brass chandeliers with electric lights, and three telephone booths. The first day of trading in their new building was September 4, 1906.
As for the city’s investment firms, in 1922 there were 45 —Fenner & Beane seem to have been one of the biggest though American Securities Corp., Hibernia Securities, Investment Trust & Banking Co., and Mortgage & Securities Company weren’t far behind. There was one firm name, however, that caught my eye: Isidore Newman & Son.
Isidore Newman was born in Germany in 1837 and came to the U.S. before the Civil War, settling in Louisiana. He moved to New Orleans and founded his firm as either Isidore Newman or Isidore Newman & Brothers in 1868. Originally on Camp Street, by 1922 it was located at 212 Carondelet, down the street from the Cotton Exchange and not far from the stock exchange.
Newman became quite successful and was connected to a number of other businesses, most notably railroads. Two of the businesses have real name recognition for locals —the Carrolton Railroad Co. and the department store, Maison Blanche. Newman was one of the founders of the New Orleans Stock Exchange when it was organized in 1875 and even served as president. When Newman died, in 1909, he was one of the wealthiest men in New Orleans and had helped to build the Touro Infirmary and found the Newman Manual Training School, which is now known as the Isidore Newman School.
Investment Bankers and Brokers of America provides a snapshot of the investment community for a year and may be of interest to anyone studying the history of specific firms and by extension, Wall Street. Beyond the information on the exchanges and investment bankers—everything from bigger firms like Lehman Brothers to smaller, local firms—the title also includes blue sky anti-fraud laws from the various states, accompanied by a written interpretation of the laws. The content isn’t limited to the U.S. either, because there is also information on Canadian exchanges and firms.
You can expand your research in this area even further by looking at similar titles, including the Blue Book and Security Dealers of North America, and other materials you can find in our guide, Wall Street and the Stock Exchanges: Historical Resources.