The corner of Wall and Broad Streets is among the most photographed in American finance. On the third corner, opposite the Stock Exchange, stands a low stone building with no name on it and a facade marked with small holes.
The Horror
At 12:01 pm on Thursday, September 16, 1920, a horse-drawn wagon exploded on Wall Street across from the J.P. Morgan & Co. headquarters at 23 Wall Street. It carried 100 lb of dynamite packed with 500 lb of cast-iron sash weights that acted as shrapnel, and it was fired by a timer. Witnesses saw the driver flee down a side street. The horse and wagon were destroyed.
Thirty-eight people died, 30 at once and eight later of their wounds. Most were young messengers, stenographers, clerks and brokers. A hundred and forty-three were seriously injured and several hundred hurt in all. Damage topped $2 million, and most of the Morgan building’s interior was destroyed.
Within a minute the Stock Exchange president, William H. Remick, suspended trading to prevent panic. The board decided to reopen the next day. Overnight cleaning destroyed physical evidence. On September 17, thousands attended a Sons of the American Revolution rally at the same intersection.
Police found flyers in red ink in a nearby post office box before the blast. They called for the release of political prisoners and were signed “American Anarchist Fighters”. Investigators concluded this ruled out an accident and focused on anarchist and communist groups, especially the Galleanists. Historians including Paul Avrich consider Mario Buda the most likely bombmaker, acting in revenge for the arrests of Sacco and Vanzetti. Buda was never arrested or questioned and returned to Italy by November 1920. The case was never solved. The FBI reinvestigated in 1944 and concluded that Italian anarchists or terrorists were likely responsible.
The Legend
A popular telling has the Bureau of Investigation closing its file in 1940, and has Buda sailing two months after the bomb. The first claim is unconfirmed, and Buda’s departure is only documented as having happened by November. The story that horseshoes recovered from the wreck led investigators to a blacksmith is also unconfirmed.
The Modern Relic
23 Wall Street was built in 1913 to 1914 and opened on November 11, 1914. It was never marked with the company name. The bombing caused an estimated $500,000 to $600,000 in interior damage, while the exterior received only superficial pockmarks. The firm said it would not repair the exterior damage in defiance of those who committed the crime. The divots remain on the facade, and the New York Times later called them a badge of honour. Whether they are formally protected is unconfirmed, although the building was made a city landmark on December 21, 1965.
J.P. Morgan & Co. moved to 60 Wall Street in 1988. The building has been largely unoccupied since the late 2000s. In January 2020 Jack Terzi of JTRE Holdings signed a 99-year lease as part of a court settlement, and the company has asked the Landmarks Preservation Commission to approve converting the ground level into retail space.
