The Crash of 1929 - Timeline


1921
August 24. With the economy still in the doldrums after the First World War, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is only at 63.90 points.

1922
August 22. The Dow tops 100, closing the day at 100.75. The boom is on.

1927
December 19. Wall Street gets an early Christmas present: The Dow tops 200 for the first time, closing the day at 200.93.

1928
December 31. Happy New Year! The Dow hits 300 for the first time, closing the day at exactly 300.00.

1929
September 3. On the day after Labor Day, the Dow hits its pre-crash high, closing at 381.17. It wouldn\'t reach that mark again for 25 years!

October 24 (Black Thursday). The crash begins. Panic selling is triggered, some say, by an economist\'s prediction of an impending crash. That afternoon, five banks pony up about $20 million each to buy stock and restore confidence in the market. It seems to work. There\'s a late rally, and the Dow closes at 299.47. A record-breaking 13 million shares are traded.

October 25. The rally begun the previous afternoon continues, and the Dow closes at 301.22.

October 28 (Black Monday). The rally ends. Panic selling resumes. The Dow drops almost 40 points (nearly 13 percent) to close 260.64.

October 29 (Black Tuesday). The Dow drops another 30 points (nearly 12 percent) to close at 230.07 on trading of 16 million shares. It\'s official: The stock market has crashed.

1932
July 8. The Dow bottoms out, closing the day at 41.22 - an 89 percent drop from its pre-crash high.

1954
November 23. Twenty-five long years after the crash, the Dow finally reaches its pre-crash high again, closing the day at 382.74