Happy Birthday to NYSE

On this day in 1792, 24 brokers, merchants, and auctioneers gathered under a buttonwood tree in Manhattan's Castle Garden (now Battery Park) and signed a very brief document known as the Buttonwood Agreement. A quarter century later it was incorporated as the New York Stock and Exchange Board, four of the original signatories were still involved. Two centuries later The Market has gotten rather more complex, to the embarrassment of thousands who clearly didn't understand what they were doing recently. One wonders if they should find a buttonwood tree and move back into the park.