1968: The New York Stock Exchange, inundated with trading paperwork and struggling to cope with antiquated recordkeeping technology, begins closing every Wednesday to allow "back-office" trade processors to catch up with the flood of documents.

"Today in NYSE History," at www.nyse.com/about/TodayInNYSE.html

1928: After more than 130 years of trading, the New York Stock Exchange finally has its first day on which more than 5 million shares trade hands, as total daily volume hits 5,252,425 shares. Unfortunately, it is a day of noontime terror, as many stocks drop between $25 and $150 in price, evidently in response to President Calvin Coolidge's announcement that he will not run again. "Individual losses were staggering," reports The New York Times. "Hundreds of small traders were wiped out?. The sales were countrywide. They flowed into the Stock Exchange not alone from New York brokerage houses but from every nook and cranny of the country?." But by day's end, the market recovers, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at 202.65, down only 3.09 points, or just 1.5%.

New York Stock Exchange flyer, "Key Dates in the History of the New York Stock Exchange," 1992;John Brooks, Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street, 1920-1938 (Harper & Row, New York, 1969), p. 95