The original quarters of the Exchange were in the upper story 
of the building on State Street, long occupied by the Washing: 
ton Bank. In May, 1844, it was decided to procure larger and 
mote pretentious quarters, and the Board moved into the fourth 
floor of the then magnificent Merchants Exchange Building 
near-by, which had just been completed. Here it remained un- 
til March 28, 1853, when it moved to the Union Building at 
40 State Street, to remain for another decade. In 1863, the Board 
again transferred its activities, this time to a few doors off State 
Street, in the Howe Building at 13 Exchange Street. Here it 
remained for twenty-two years, during which time the board 
room was much improved by the throwing of two stories into 
one, with consequent advantages in lighting and ventilation. It 
was not until 1885 that anything like adequate quarters were 
secured, when the Exchange moved into the hall known as the 
reading room of the old Merchants Exchange Building. 
THE OLD DAYS 
“IN the old days,” to quote the usual phrase, and by it, in this 
instance, is meant the period prior to, and just after, the Civil 
War, business on the Exchange was conducted in a very differ- 
ent fashion than at present. Then, there were no telephones, 
no tickers, no wildly gesticulating crowds. A “seat” was a literal 
fact at that time, for every member had a particular chair and 
desk and was forbidden to trade out of it. These desks were 
set in parallel rows about the sides of the board room, while 
the desks of the President and Secretary of the Exchange were at 
the head. There were then two sessions daily, or two “Boards” 
as they were called, one shortly after ten o'clock in the morn- 
[14]