Charles Dow, the History of the Dow Jones Averages, Dow Jones Averages Chronology 1884 - 1995

"DAILY MOVEMENT OF AVERAGES"

"Following is the daily average price of 20 railroad stocks and 12 industrials for 30 days last passed:

"Twelve industrial stocks used are: Sugar, Tobacco, Leather preferred, Cotton Oil, Cordage preferred, Rubber com., Chicago Gas, Tennessee Coal & Iron, General Electric, Lead, American Spirits and Laclede Gas.

"The 20 active stocks used are: Erie, Kansas & Texas preferred, Chesapeake & Ohio Minneapolis & St. Louis 2d preferred, Susquehanna & Western preferred, New York Central, Atchinson, CCC & St. Louis, Southern Railway preferred, Missouri Pacific, Jersey Central, Pacific Mail, Northwest, Louisville & Nashville, Western Union, Rock Island, Burlington. St. Paul, Texas & Pacific and Lake Shore."

(Persons interested in extending the present Dow Jones averages backward as far as possible can consider this the beginning of the railroad average (now transportation) provided they bear in mind that there are two industrial stocks included in the list. It should also be kept in mind that, originally, market quotations were all in percentages. On October 13, 1915, the Stock Exchange ruled that all stocks should sell on a dollar share basis. For the sake of continuity, the average of Pennsylvania, Reading and Lehigh Valley, all having $50 par values, was computed on a percentage basis which was obtained by doubling their market quotations.)

October 19, 1896 - Philadelphia & Reading and No. Pacific preferred substituted for Minneapolis & St. Louis 2nd preferred and Texas Pacific in the rail list.

October 26, 1896 - Manhattan Elevated and Wabash preferred were substituted for Pacific Mail and Western Union in the 20 railroads.

(This marked the first time the average was computed entirely of railroad stocks.)

November 10, 1896 - Pacific Mail Steamship substituted for U.S. Rubber in the industrials.

December 23, 1896 - Standard Rope & Twine substituted for U.S. Cordage preferred in the industrials.

January 4, 1897 - N.Y. Ontario & Western substituted for Susquehanna & Western preferred in the rail list which included: [Back To Top]

March 24, 1898 - Peoples Gas substituted for Chicago Gas in the industrials.

May 6, 1898 - Metropolitan Traction & Union Pacific preferred substituted for Ontario & Western and Lake Shore.

September 1898 - U.S. Rubber substituted for General Electric in the industrials.

April 21, 1899 - Continental Tobacco, Federal Steel, General Electric, American Steel & Wire substituted for American Spirits Manufacturing, American Tobacco, Laclede Gas and Standard Rope & Twine in the industrials.

May 22, 1899 - Brooklyn Rapid Transit, Denver & Rio Grande preferred and Norfolk & Western preferred substituted for Metropolitan Street Railway, Reading and Erie in the railroads.

April 1, 1900 - Southern Pacific common substituted for Wabash preferred in the railroads.

April 7, 1900 - Union Pacific common substituted for Norfolk & Western preferred in the railroads.

May 27, 1901 - Baltimore & Ohio and Illinois Central substituted for Burlington and South Pacific common in the railroads.

June 24, 1901 - Southern Railway common substituted for Southern Railway preferred in the railroads.

June 29, 1901 - Pennsylvania substituted for Northern Pacific preferred in the railroads.

April 1, 1901 - Amalgamated Copper, American Smelting & Refining, International Paper preferred, U.S. Steel common and U.S. Steel preferred were substituted for American Cotton Oil, Federal Steel, General Electric, Pacific Mail and American Steel & Wire in the industrials.

July 1, 1901 - American Car Foundry and Colorado Fuel & Iron substituted for Continental Tobacco and International Paper preferred in the industrials.

September 20, 1902 - Reading, Canadian Pacific, Delaware & Hudson and Minneapolis & St. Louis were substituted for Missouri, Kansas & Texas preferred, Rock Island, Chesapeake & Ohio and Jersey Central in the railroads.

May 17, 1904 - Southern Pacific common substituted for Minneapolis & St. Louis in the railroads.

June 25, 1904 - Wabash preferred and Metropolitan Street Railway substituted for C.C.C. & St. Louis and Denver preferred in the railroads.

April 1, 1905 - U.S. Rubber 1st preferred substituted for U.S. Leather preferred in the industrials.

April 11, 1905 - Erie substituted for Wabash preferred in the railroads.

May 19, 1905 - Northern Pacific common and Norfolk & Western substituted for Manhattan and Union Pacific preferred in the railroads.

The rail list, now entirely composed of common stocks, had these issues:

May 4, 1906 - Twin City Rapid Transit substituted for Metropolitan Street Railway in the railroads.

November 7, 1907 - General Electric substituted for Tennessee Coal & Iron in the industrials.

August 25, 1912 - Rock Island and Lehigh Valley substituted for Brooklyn Rapid Transit and Twin City Rapid Transit in the railroads.

May 12, 1912 - Central Leather common substituted for Colorado Fuel & Iron in the industrials.

December 12, 1914 - Chesapeake & Ohio, Kansas City Southern and N.Y. N.H. & Hartford substituted for Chicago & North Western, Missouri Pacific and Rock Island in the railroads.

March 16, 1915 - General Motors substituted for U.S. Rubber 1st preferred in the industrials.

July 29, 1915 - Anaconda substituted for Amalgamated Copper.

October 4, 1916 - A list of 20 industrials, all common, substituted for the old list of 12. National Lead, Peoples Gas, General Motors and U.S. Steel preferred were dropped and 12 new companies added. The list became: [Back To Top]

(At this time (1916) Stock Exchange quotations were all in dollars of percentages, so the fact that Utah had a par of $10 and Westinghouse a par of $50 caused no immediate confusion in the new averages. However, in order to make continuity for the industrial averages, the records of the 20 new stocks were figured backward to the reopening of the Stock Exchange on December 12, 1914, after the war closing, so that the published record of averages is as if the 20 stocks mentioned above had been quoted on the dollar basis from that date.)March 1, 1920 - Corn Products substituted for American Beet Sugar in the industrials.

January 22, 1924 - American Tobacco, Du Pont, Mack Trucks and Sears, Roebuck substituted for Corn Products, Central Leather, Goodrich and Texas Co. in the industrials.

February 6, 1924 - Standard Oil of California substituted for Utah in the industrials.

April 10, 1924 - Delaware, Lackawanna & Western and St. Louis Southwestern substituted for Kansas City Southern and Lehigh Valley in the railroads.

May 12, 1924 - Studebaker non-par and Woolworth $25 par substituted for old Studebaker and Republic Iron & Steel in the industrials.(After the change from 12 to 20 industrials in 1916, Texas Co. reduced its par from $100 to $25. Then, American Locomotive changed from $100 par to non-par, issuing two new shares for one old share. Studebaker changed from $100 par to non-par, issuing two and a half shares of new for one of old. The compilation arising from the Texas, American Locomotive and Studebaker changes brought about new adjustment.

Texas Co. and Corn Products were dropped. American Locomotive was retained at the actual new quotation. These changes, made January 22, 1924, were so fitted into the scheme of quotations that, while the closing prices on a Tuesday averaged 97.41 on the old stocks, the average on the new stocks was 97.23, all being figured on the dollar basis.)

The railroad list as of August 31, 1925, was:

August 31, 1925 - General Motors, International Harvester, Kennecott, Texas Co. and U.S. Realty were substituted for Anaconda, Baldwin, Du Pont, Standard Oil of Calif. and Studebaker in the industrial list. These changes made no appreciable difference in the averages.

December 7, 1925 - Allied Chemical and Paramount Famous Lasky substituted for U.S. Realty and Westinghouse Electric in the industrials.

December 31, 1925 - Remington Typewriter and Mack Trucks, ex-stock dividend, were substituted for Kennecott and Mack Trucks stock dividend attached in the industrials.

March 16, 1927 - United Drug substituted for Remington Typewriter in the industrials. The industrial list on December 31, 1927, was:

All stocks used in both the railroad and industrial lists are common stocks. The averages of these stocks are compiled from closing prices. In case there is no sale of a particular stock the last closing is used.

As of December 31, 1927, to obtain the average daily price of the 20 railroad stocks, take the total sum of their closing quotations (with Pennsylvania and Reading doubled) and divide by 20. The industrial average is computed in the same manner except that in certain cases in the past (prior to 1927) attempt was made to compensate or average the averages to make allowances for stock split-ups. Therefore, in order to get the total to be divided by 20, the closing price of American Can is multiplied by 6, that of General Electric by 4, Sears, Roebuck by 4, American Car & Foundry by 2 and American Tobacco by 2.

The present Dow Jones industrial average of 30 stocks began October 1, 1928, when the list was expanded to 30 from 20 and several substitutions were made. On October 1, 1928, the stocks making up the industrial average were:

The divisor on October 1, 1928, was 16.67.

Subsequent changes in stocks making up the industrial average and changes in the divisor, together with the dates, were:

[Back To Top]

[Back To Top]