The Great Depression began in October, 1929, when the economic expansion of the came to an end. "Although the American stock market had sustained steep losses the last week in October of 1929, Tuesday, October 29th is remembered as the beginning of the Great Depression. The Boston Stock Exchange, drawn into the whirlpool of panic selling that beset the New York Stock Exchange, lost over 25 percent of its value in two days of frenzied trading. The BSE, nearly 100 years old at the time, had helped raise the capital that had funded many of the Commonwealth's factories, railroads, and businesses. "  Governor of Massachusetts Frank G. Allen appointed John C. Hull  the first Securities Director of Massachusetts.