17. Charging Bull, Wall Street’s Symbol of Optimism and Prosperity

Charging Bull by sculpture artist Arturo di Modica, often referred to as the Wall Street Bull, is a bronze sculpture standing eleven feet tall and sixteen feet long. It represent aggressive financial optimism and prosperity, and is a Wall Street icon. The installation was created and installed following the 1987 stock market crash as a symbol of the strength and power of the American people. This was not a commissioned piece.

The artist, who spent $360,000 to create the piece, trucked it to lower Manhattan on December 15, 1989 and installed it in the middle of Broad Street, in front of the New York Stock Exchange as a Christmas gift to the people of New York. The police seized the sculpture and placed it in an impound. But public outcry led to the New York Department of Parks and Recreation installing it two blocks south of the exchange in the plaza at Bowling Green on December 21, 1989, where it resides today mobbed by tourists.