Fast Money's History Challenge

Sure you’re up on recent events. But just how Street smart are you really? Take this quick 5-question quiz and find out how much you know about the history of Wall Street.

Although Wall Street is synonymous with high finance, it’s actually named for something else entirely. What?

1. A 12 foot high and very long wall built by Dutch settlers to keep out rivals.
2. Patriots who created a wall of defense during the American Revolution.
3. Masons who made nearly indestructible brick walls used to construct early banks.
4. The home of JP Morgan, which was surrounded by gilded walls.

Historians believe it was demolished about 1699 and the road that would become our current Wall Street was laid out in its place.

The company JPMorgan has landed in the headlines quite a bit recently. But who was JP Morgan?

1. One of the original 24 brokers who launched the NYSE
2. The entrepreneur behind the behemoth Standard Oil
3. A financier who made his fortune in railroads and steel.
4. The US President during the industrial revolution

Morgan played a key role in the formation of U.S. Steel in the early 1900’s.

The collapse of Lehman in 2008 triggered market mania 101 years after another panic. What was the Panic of 1907?

1. The scramble to buy the new Model T introduced by Henry Ford
2. A riot that occurred after people lost jobs due to trust-busting.
3. A series of runs on banks nationwide, after a New York City trust collapsed.
4. The Street's nickname for an initiative to curb the illegal manipulations by financiers

At the time the United States did not have a central bank to inject liquidity into the market.

The 9/11 attacks weren’t the first time terrorists took aim at American capitalism. What happened during the Wall Street bombing of 1920?

1. An explosion was deliberately set outside the offices of JP Morgan.
2. Anarchists responded violently to the Sacco and Vanzetti incident.
3. The most serious bomb attack on US soil of its time, claimed 38 lives and injured 400.
4. All of the above

The circumstances were investigated for many years but authorities have never discovered the identities of the bombers.

A real estate bubble led to the current downturn, the worst since the 1930’s. But what was the biggest contributing factor to the stock market crash of 1929?

1. Fear that communism was spreading rapidly under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin,
2. A speculative boom that led Americans to invest heavily in the stock market; many using borrowed money.
3. Concerns that a general strike could leave companies at the mercy of their workers.
4. Aftermath from the St. Valentines Day Massacre which forced Al Capone to liquidate all his holdings.

The stock market wouldn't recover to its pre-crash numbers until 1954.

Your score:

• Expert You understand that the road to future profits lies with a keen understanding of the Street’s present and past.
• Apprentice Not bad, but not great. Good thing we’re talking about your quiz score and not your latest returns.
• Novice It’s time to crack the books. History tends to repeat itself, you know.