The New York Stock Exchange
is at 8 Broad Street
(between Wall Street and Exchange
Place) in lower Manhattan’s financial district. The building is a beautiful neo-classic
structure, designed in 1903 by George B. Post, with Corinthian columns and a
marble facade sculpture entitled “Integrity Producing the Works of Man.” The Stock Exchange has been at several
different downtown Manhattan
locations. It was founded by a
small group of 24 merchants and auctioneers on May 17, 1792 who met under a buttonwood tree at 68 Wall Street to create rules, the Buttonwood Agreement, governing securities trading. One year later Archibald Gracie, whose mansion on the East River would later become the official residence of NYC Msyors, became the New York Stock Exchange's first president.
Alexander Hamilton, the country first Treasury Secretary, lived at a house at 57 Wall Street (near Fraunces Tavern) and is largely responsible for setting up the country's first bank, the First Bank of the United States.
