Happy Birthday, Wall Street Bull!
Originally, the 7,100lb bronze sculpture, named “Charging Bull”, was dropped off near the New York Stock Exchange in the middle of the night on December 15th, 1989 as an unauthorized art installation and was left near the Stock Exchange Christmas tree as a gift to the people of New York. Despite often being associated with Wall Street greed, the artist, Arturo Di Modica, intended the bull to represent the strength and power of the American people after the 1987 stock market crash.
As of 2021, the iconic bronze bull has stood 32 years near Wall Street in downtown Manhattan, becoming an instantly recognizable symbol of both New York City and the financial institutions surrounding Wall Street.
Read the 1989 New York Times article about Charging Bull
After two years of work at a total cost of $300,000 to the artist, the bull was finished, loaded on a flatbed truck, and dropped off downtown late at night in the middle of Broad Street in the Financial District. However, the bull wouldn’t stay there long, as the NYSE hired a trucking company to haul it away and it was moved to a police impound lot because the artist had no permit to install the sculpture. By December 21st, the Parks Department decided to “temporarily” allow the bull to be displayed in their nearby Bowling Green Park, where the bull stands today.
