Video: '1929 Wall Street Stock Market Crash' (Oct. 24, 1929, at 3:55)

(Black Thursday, October 24, 1929, 10:00 a.m. EST) — The New York Stock Exchange plunged 11 percent at the opening bell on very heavy trading today, precipitating the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression of the 1930s.

The three leading banks at that time — Morgan Bank, Chase National Bank, and National City Bank of New York — bought stocks to attempt to restore confidence in the markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered a bit, closing 2 percent down.

Video: '24th October 1929: Wall Street Crash begins on Black Thursday'

The Dow closed higher on Oct. 25, 1929, but crashed again on Oct. 28-29, 1929, losing a whopping 24.55 percent of value.

The Dow continued sliding for three more years, bottoming out on July 8, 1932, having lost almost 90 percent of its value since its peak on Sept. 3, 1929.

The market would not return to the peak closing of Sept. 3, 1929, until Nov. 23, 1954.