Early in our country's history, Boston was the financial center of America. Bonds for projects such
as roads, canals and bridges, and contracts for commodities such as hides and molasses, were bought
and sold mostly by Boston dealers. However, there was not yet an official place to conduct such
business.
Other countries had such "exchanges" for many years. Belgium established the world's
first in 1531. Amsterdam soon followed, with brokers conducting their activity on a street called
Warmoesstraat. In 1602, under the Amstel bridge, shares of the East India Company were bought and
sold. Money was raised here to finance the Pilgrim's trip to America.
At this time, Paris conducted their financial business on Rue de Quincampoix.. In the early 1600's,
Berlin's traders and merchants conducted their business at the Grotte in Schlossgarten.
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Peter Minuet, representing the Dutch East India Company, paid whom he thought were the
“Man-a-hat-ta” Indians 60 guilders worth of trinkets for this piece of choice land we call Manhattan.
The Canarsie Indians took what they apparently believed were gifts, and paddled back to their
village in Brooklyn.
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London's stock exchange began as an outdoor market centered on Exchange Alley. By 1725, many London
brokers began doing business at Jonathon's Coffee House which was renamed "The Stock
Exchange" in 1773. An advertisement of the time by a broker named John Taylor proclaimed
"Buyeth and selleth new lottery tickets, Navy victualling bills, East India bonds, and
other publick securities".
It was just a matter of time before our new country, The United States of America, would organize
formal stock and bond trading. 1792 was the year. In 1792, New York City's population was about
34,000, not including Brooklyn and Queens which were still separate towns. Much of Manhattan had
just been rebuilt with brick buildings after the devastating Great Fire of 1776.
Wall Street was New York's center of commerce. Just a few blocks long, from Broadway on the west to
the East River at the other end, Wall Street was not yet paved or even lined with cobblestones.
There were warehouses for furs, coffee and tea, and other goods from all over the world. To the
south, streets were crowded with slaughter houses and tanneries.
Wealthy businessmen, along with their ordinary trade, would sell lottery tickets, bonds, and shares
of stocks in new banks that were forming. The hottest trading and speculating, was in treasury
bonds issued by the new Bank of the United States.
Until 1792, a person wishing to buy or sell an investment would either advertise, or spread the
word among associates and friends. Some of the first merchants to keep a supply of stock shares on
hand were Leonard Bleeker at 16 Wall Street and Sutton & Harry at 20 Wall. On one day in 1791,
100 shares actually changed hands. Imagine that!
The first organized stock exchange was created in 1792, when under a buttonwood tree in Castle
Garden (now called Battery Park), John Sutton, Benjamin Jay, and 22 other financial leaders signed
an agreement of rules, regulations and fees.
Then in a building at 22 Wall Street, securities were auctioned every day beginning at noon, sold
to the highest bidder. The seller paid the exchange a commission on each stock or bond sold.
They originally called this organization The Stock Exchange Office. This was a very exclusive
organization, allowing only the elite of New York's financial community to join. And certainly no
women were allowed! In just recent years, Muriel Siebert became the first female member of the New
York Stock Exchange.
Other History of Wall Street and Stock Market Topics:
-
History of Wall Street and Stock Markets
- More Wall Street History
- 1929 Stock Market Crash
- More Stock Market History
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