I pass the Charging Bull, also known as the Wall Street Bull, every morning on my way to work and get to say goodnight to it on my way home. If I wanted to go visit it to say a quick hello during the day I could because it’s right outside our office. It is one of the most famous statues in New York City and yet I never think twice about how it came to be. I mainly just look at it as a massive statue that is crowded by tons of tourists every morning and will inevitably make my commute to and from work that much more difficult. Recently, however, my colleagues and I were discussing the famous Bull and wondered how it found its home in lower Manhattan. So I did some research (mainly Wikipedia), and was shocked to discover that the Bull had such a colorful background.
I naturally assumed with the Bull being such an iconic symbol of New York and of Wall Street that the city had planned this out and commissioned an artist to create it, but apparently that is not the case. Artists Arturo Di Modica decided on his own accord to sculpt the Bull following the stock market crash of 1987, as a symbol of “strength and power of the American people.” Di Modica spent $360,000 to create the sculpture and then took it upon himself, in an act of “guerilla art,” to load it in a truck, drive it all the way downtown and install it under a Christmas tree on Broad Street, as a Christmas gift to New Yorkers (how thoughtful of him).
New Yorkers and tourists, though, really did appreciate the gift, andThe Wall Street Bull 
flocked to the statue after it was installed to take pictures and to admire it. But none-the-less, because of the illegal manner in which the Bull was installed, the NYC police seized and impounded the poor Wall Street Bull. A public outcry followed – the people wanted their Bull back! (It was a gift after all). The City of New York eventually gave in and placed the Bull exactly where it can be found today – the Bowling Green Plaza facing up Broadway in New York City’s financial district. It’s here where thousands of tourists flock each year, but technically this is not the Bull’s permanent home. The Bull, you see, is not owned by New York City, but on loan from Di Modica. The temporary permit that allows the Bull to sit in Bowling Green usually only lasts a year, but this one has lasted since 1989, and it seems it won’t be expiring any time soon.
So there it is – the story of the Bull which has become a symbol of not only New York and Wall Street, but of our company blog too! I hope you found it as interesting as I did!
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