Historedia
Episode 1 of 1

1896 DJIA Debut

When
1896-05-26
Where
New York City
Part of
Dow Jones Industrial Average composed of industrial stocks

The Dow Jones Industrial Average debuted on May 26, 1896, with twelve industrial stocks at a starting value of 40.94.

This event marked the first time the index was composed entirely of industrial shares. It was published in The Wall Street Journal, distinguishing it from earlier averages that included railroads. The index tracked the performance of stocks traded in New York City.

Sources

  1. Dow Jones Industrial Average Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05
  2. New York Stock Exchange Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-18

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.