For a good portion of its existence, the institution of Wall Street was a private club open only to insiders and the very wealthy. That was before one of the insiders, a brash man named Charles Merrill decided to democratize investing and allow in the middle class. His coined his vision in the famous slogan “Bringing Wall Street to Main Street.”

On this day, January 6th, in 1914, Merrill opened his eponymous company for business. Several months after, he was joined by his friend Edmund Lynch, and the company changed its name to Merril, Lynch & Co. the following year.

In the 1930s Merrill Lynch’s legacy was the prediction of the stock market crash and the Great Depression. Merrill warned investors, by some estimates helping to save $6 million of their wealth. He was also famous for prizing hard work above anything else – Merrill Lynch was the first Wall Street firm to hire on a woman to sell bonds.