The complicated history of New York's iconic Charging Bull statue

In the middle of Bowling Green, a park in Manhattan’s financial district, sits a 7-ton bull. Not a real bull, of course, but a bronze statue meant to symbolize American resilience in the face of financial crises.

The “Charging Bull” is an iconic part of New York City’s landscape. But when Ben Fractenberg, a producer at The City Reporter, looked into its history for a recent piece, he found himself at a dead end: nobody knows who owns the Bull today.

“That would mean the city would have something worth $10 million on public land and not know who's liable for it,” Fractenberg said. “In New York City, I'd say behind the stock exchange, it's the most famous symbol of our free market system. So, the fact that nobody knows who actually owns it — I think there's definitely a bit of poetic irony there.”

To hear more about the history of the Charging Bull, click the audio player above.