Buttonwood Agreement
The
Buttonwood Agreement, which took place on
May 17th,
1792, started the New York Stock & Exchange Board (now called the NYSE, which is short for
New York Stock Exchange). This agreement was signed by twenty-four stock brokers outside of 68
Wall Street in New York under a
buttonwood tree. The organization drafted its constitution on
March 8th,
1817, and named itself the "New York Stock & Exchange Board". In 1863, this name was shortened to its modern form, "New York Stock Exchange". Membership on the NYSE has been held as a valuable property since 1868. These days, members must purchase existing seats, which are now limited to a total of 1,366.
The twenty-four brokers who signed the Buttonwood Agreement were Leonard Bleecker, Hugh Smith, Armstrong & Barnewall, Samuel March, Bernard Hart, Alexander Zuntz, Andrew D. Barclay, Sutton & Hardy, Benjamin Seixas, John Henry, John A. Hardenbrook, Samuel Beebe, Benjamin Winthrop, John Ferrers, Ephraim Hart, Isaac M. Gomez, Gulian McEvers, Augustine H. Lawrence, G. N. Bleecker, John Bush, Peter Anspach, Charles McEvers, Jr., David Reedy, Robinson & Hartshorne.
The Buttonwood Agreement is honored by a regular
online column written by the editors of
The Economist newspaper.
See
List of personalities associated with Wall Street.
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Stock Market Trivia: Buttonwood Agreement 
