The U.S. stock market reached its pre-crash peak in 1929, before the Wall Street Crash began in earnest.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record closing level of 381.17 on September 3, 1929. The rise reflected strong speculation, widespread optimism, and increasing use of borrowed money to buy shares. After the September peak, prices became unstable and began to decline.
The October panic days—Black Thursday on October 24 and Black Tuesday on October 29—turned the decline into a famous crash. The Dow continued falling after October, and the market eventually reached its low in July 1932. Thus, 1929 identifies the year of the peak and the dramatic initial collapse, not the end of the bear market.
A common mistake is to say that the market bottomed in 1929. In fact, the decline lasted several years, and the Dow did not recover its 1929 closing high until 1954.