The history of the Dow Jones industrial average

The history of the Dow Jones industrial average: The Dow Jones industrial average passed its intraday record high March 5. From the Great Depression to the Great Recession, here’s a look back at the storied history of the index.

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The Dow Jones industrial average is one of several market indexes created by Dow Jones Co. co-founder Charles Dow (pictured). It is named after Dow and statistician Edward Jones and includes the stocks of 30 large U.S. companies.

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The Dow was originally set up to gauge the well-being of the industrial sector, but these days few of the 30 component stocks have to do with heavy industry. When the Dow was created in 1896, it contained only 12 stocks, including American Cotton, American Sugar and American Tobacco. The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Co. was also part of the original 12 but was later bought by U.S. Steel, of which the Edgar Thomson Steel Works is pictured.

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Crowds stand across Wall Street from the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 24, 1929, when collapse of the market was reported due to heavy trading. During the great stock market crash of that year, the worst ever in U.S. history, the Dow Jones industrials lost 13 percent in one day.

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The Dow closed above 5,000 for the first time Nov. 21, 1995. On May 3, 1999, it hit another milestone: its first close above the 11,000 mark. The the 1990s, the Dow gained an astounding 315 percent.

Kathy Willens / AP

A firefighter moves through piles of debris at the site of the World Trade Center in New York after the towers fell in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. All trading on financial markets was suspended for several days after the attacks. The third largest single-day point drop for the Dow occurred on Sept. 17, 2001, the first day of trading.

Graham Morrison / AP

A floor trader monitors a computer screen while working at the New York Stock Exchange. On October 11, 2007, the Dow Jones industrial average hit its intraday trading record of 14,198.10 points. Stocks surged that day after the Fed minutes hinted that the central bank was going to continue to cut interest rates, the Associated Press reported.

Jin Lee / Bloomberg News

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 15, 2008. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 293 points at 11:53 a.m., up from a more than 300 point decline soon after the morning bell. Earlier that day Lehman Brothers, the nation's fourth-largest investment firm, announced that it would file for bankruptcy. The Dow ended up falling 504.48 points that day. This was just the beginning of a tumultuous ride for the Dow that year.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Trader Michael Kilkenny, right, sits at a post after the close of trading on Sept. 29, 2008. Wall Street's worst fears came to pass that day, when the government's financial bailout plan failed in Congress and stocks plunged precipitously, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down 777.68, or 6.98 percent to 10,365.45, in their largest one-day point drop ever.

Richard Drew / AP

Specialists Michael Scavone, left, and Michael Sollitto react on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 14, 2009, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average crosses 10,000 for the first time in a year.

Richard Drew / AP

On Feb. 1, 2013, a screen on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the Dow Jones industrial average above 14,000 for the first time since October 2007. Evidence that the U.S. economic recovery is firmly on track drove markets higher that day, adding to the cheer from good economic indicators out of Europe.

Richard Drew / AP

The current composition of the Dow Jones industrial average includes oil companies such as Chevron, banking giants such as Bank of America, retailer Walmart and technology powerhouses Cisco, Hewlett-Packard and Intel.

Getty, AP and Reuters

Employees at the General Electric health-care unit's production facility in Beijing assemble medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices. General Electric is the only stock from the original 12 that still exists on the Dow.

Nelson Ching / Bloomberg

A board displays the Dow Jones Industrial average after the close at the New York Stock Exchange, March 4, 2013. In intraday trading, the Dow passed its all-time high Tuesday morning, despite fears that automatic spending cuts contained in the sequester could hamper economic growth.

Brendan McDermid / Reuters

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

A woman is attacked by water cannon during protests in Kizilay square in central Ankara, June 16, 2013. The unrest, in which police fired teargas and water cannon at stone-throwing protesters night after night in cities including Istanbul and Ankara, left four people dead and about 5,000 injured, according to the Turkish Medical Association. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

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WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 14: Johnathon Carrington, valedictorian at Dunbar High School, laughs with family and friends after his school's graduation ceremony at Howard University on Friday, June 14, 2013, in Washington, DC. Carrington, who grew up in Tyler House public-housing apartments and is graduating from one of DC's low-performing high schoolsy, where academic expectations are high. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Johnathon’s journey

Johnathon Carrington graduated Friday as the valedictorian of his neighborhood school, Dunbar High, and is headed to Georgetown University. But Carrington, 17, is nervous, and so are...

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 16: Reenactors dressed as knights stage a medieval jousting competition at Eltham Palace on June 16, 2013 in Eltham, England. The 'Grand Medieval Joust' event at Eltham Palace, an English Heritage property which was the childhood home of King Henry VIII, aims to give a great insight into life at the palace during the medieval period. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

The Grand Medieval Joust

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NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 16: Solange performs during the 2013 Northside Festival at McCarren Park on June 16, 2013 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

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In this June 8, 2013 photo, youth compete in the Sao Carlos slum local soccer tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The pitch is just dirt and the incandescent lights aren't so bright. But when the boys' feet strike the football in the Sao Carlos slum as night falls every Saturday, big league dreams glow, inflated by the hope of escaping the shantytown with sporting skills. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JUNE 14: A man cycles past murals of Nelson Mandel near to Regina Mundi Church in the Soweto township on June 14, 2013 in Soweto,South Africa. The former South African President and leader of the anti-apartheid movement is spending a seventh day in hospital and is reported to be responding better to treatment for a recurring lung infection. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Mandela remains in a hospital

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LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 16: Miss Connecticut USA Erin Brady reacts after being crowned Miss USA during the 2013 Miss USA pageant at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on June 16, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Miss USA 2013

Miss Connecticut USA Erin Brady is crowned Miss USA 2013 in Las Vegas.

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