5. 23 Wall Street bears the scars from a 1920 bombing
You might not know that 9/11 was not the first attack on Lower Manhattan. In fact, the building at 23 Wall Street still bears the scars of a bombing that took place on September 16, 1920. At the time, the building was the headquarters of J.P. Morgan’s bank, which was constructed in 1914 in a grand Neoclassical style.
As the bells of nearby Trinity Church rang at noon, a horse drawn carriage pulled up and detonated a bomb whose blast tore through the building and shattered windowpanes within a ten-block radius. The explosion killed between 36 and 38 people and caused $2 million in damage. The perpetrators were never found, though it’s believed they were anarchists. Some scars caused by the bombing can still be seen on the facade.
