For many people, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is the measure of the health of the overall stock market. In reality, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is really just the performance of a collection of 30 blue-chip stocks.

The index was created in 1896 and back then there were only 12 stocks in the index, and most of them are no longer household names. 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices