 What may be the narrowest path in New York dates to the early Dutch colonists.  It was originally called Elliot's Alley and probably takes its current name from a mill built to grind the bark that the tanners used. 

Mill Lane

Modeled after a Renaissance palazzo, residential palaces of Italian banking families, the building first served as the home of the Hanover Bank. The name India House was selected to symbolize the Indies, which were believed to epitomize the rare and exotic. The name also pays homage to the Dutch West India Company, the first colonizers of Manhattan. After the Hanover Bank moved out, the property became the possession of Robert L. Maitland. His company Maitland and Company were tobacco importers. The property was subsequently used by the New York Cotton Exchange (1870 to 1885), and later by W.R. Grace &amp; Company.India House, as an organization, came into being in 1914, when a group of business men headed by James A. Farrell, then president of United States Steel Company, in collaboration with Willard Straight, decided to create a meeting place for the interests of foreign trade. Presidents of the Lackawanna Steel Company, Dollar Steamship Company, W.R. Grace Shipping, Chase National Bank, and United States Rubber all became Governors of India House and remained active during its first two decades.Indeed, from its very inception, the club's charter stated that its goal was to "create in this country a relation between the bankers and the promoters of foreign enterprises that would make it possible to handle foreign undertakings..." Many statesmen have been members of India House, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Hopkins, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., James Byrnes, W. Averell Harriman, George C. Marshall, Henry Cabot Lodge and Cyrus Vance.

Originally Hanover Bank, later NY Cotton Exchange and WR Grace and Company. Later India House.&amp;nbsp;  

Inside are maritime-themed spaces that are used by Harry's Bar, Ulysses Folk House, and the India House club.Beaver Street, William Street, and Hanover Square

India House 

The third stop on the Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District is in front of 55 Water Street. The building was once the largest private office building in New York City. It is now home to the India House, which houses a large collection of maritime objects.

This building has housed some of the more famous and infamous financial service firms. Originally constructed on the site of Isaac Seligman's original store, the firm bought 4 adjacent lots and constructed the firm's headquarters when they became involved in investment banking after the Civil War. Then it became the headquarters of the Lehman Brothers holdings in 1929. Among the firm amenities was the company dining room which the New York Times rated as the best lunch in the Wall St area in 1979. The building is now owned by Banca Commerciale Italiana who had their architect Gino Valle complete an addition in 1986. Lehman, alas, didn't fare quite as well and collapsed in 2008.

Banca Commerciale Italiana 

 Joseph Seligman and his brothers founded J &amp; W Seligman &amp; Company banks. During the Civil War, his bank helped to finance the Union Army. In 1877, however, he and his family were denied their stay at the Grand Union Hotel, one of the first cases of anti-semitism in the United States to gain national notoriety. 

 Historian and lawyer James Kaplan details the history of the now defunct Lehman Brothers financial firm. The Lehman Brothers made their fortune in cotton trading and, as such, were heavily invested on the Confederates' side of the Civil War. The Lehman Brothers purchased 1 William Street from the J &amp; W Seligman &amp; Company in 1928 and headquartered themselves there until 1980. 

 The fourth stop on the Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District is in front of the former headquarters of both the Seligman Brothers and the Lehman Brothers financial companies. Interestingly, while the Seligman Brothers were financial backers of the Union Army in the Civil War, the Lehman Brothers backed the Confederate Army because much of the money came from cotton plantations in the South. 

In March 1657, residents of Breuers Straet filed a petition to pave the street with cobblestone, funding the project with their own money. The petition was approved and, in 1658, Breuers Straet became the first cobbled street in New Amsterdam.

The British took over New Amsterdam in 1664 and renamed it New York. Brouwer Straet was renamed Stony Street, and Hoogh Straet was translated to High Street (from Broad Street to Hanover Square).

In the early 1700s, the east section of Stone Street was renamed once again from High Street to Duke Street. But following the American Revolutionary War in 1783, New Yorkers sought to change names that reflected British rule.The west section of Stone Street was already called Stony Street at the time, but the city's common council approved extending the name to Duke Street as well. Subsequently, Duke Street and Stony Street officially became one long street named Stone Street in 1794.

At the beginning of the 1800s, Lower Manhattan was starting to get expanded via landfill. As the neighborhood was (literally) growing, Stone Street started becoming increasingly commercial and many residences on and around Stone Street were subdivided.In 1811, the common council approved petitions to widen Stone Street, and the street was expanded by about 4 feet for $150,000 (equivalent to about $3.4 million in 2023).

First paved street in America was named after the cobblestones it was constructed of.The cities first breweries were located on Stone Street in the 1600s. Part of Stone Street was actually named Breuers Straet (Brewer Street), later renamed Brouwer Straet, from Whitehall to Broad Streets,&nbsp;

Stone Street became the first paved street in New York

Historian and lawyer James Kaplan asks listeners to use their imaginations as he describes the site of Shearith Israel Synagogue that once stood near 22 William Street. The first synagogue in North America, it was built in 1730. As the surrounding neighborhood - which would become the Financial District - became more industrial, congregants left the site to build synagogues in Greenwich Village and Upper West Side.

 At Bowling Green, Kaplan talks about Evacuation Day, the departure of the British from New York City, and Charging Bull, a popular statue representing the spirit of Wall Street and American capitalism. 

 At the statue of Nathan Hale in City Hall Park, Kaplan discusses Hale's life and significance, and the history of City Hall. 

 Architectural historian Gail Cornell talks about the history of Foley Square and the African Burial Ground. 

Most of the Stone Street’s structures were damaged or destroyed when the Great Fire of New York started at a nearby warehouse and spread through the neighborhood by high winds.

Stone Street became the first paved street in New York

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