Merchants Exchange (Boston)

The Merchants Exchange building (1842-1890) in Boston, Massachusetts was built in 1841 from a design by architect Isaiah Rogers. Centrally located on State Street, it functioned as a hub for business activities in the city.

Merchant's Exchange, Boston, 1852

History

The Merchants Exchange served as one of Boston's "great gathering-points of the traders -- the marble-paved and frescoed hall ... with its newspaper files, bulletins, wind vane, and ship registry."[1] It was "elegant ... with a fine reading-room, ... and besides accommodations for the post office, and for several insurance and brokers' offices, affords many conveniences for the mercantile community."[2]

Architecture

Built in 1841-1842 by architect Isaiah Rogers, Merchants Exchange was considered "among the best specimens of architecture in Boston"[3] and "a dignified building in its day."[4] Re-modelling occurred after the building "went down" in the fire of 1872.[5][6]

After 1890, the "Exchange Building" occupied the site of the former Merchants Exchange building.[4]

Function

The building housed business activities, such as:

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Merchants Exchange (Boston, Massachusetts).
  1. Edwin Hodder. Cities of the world. Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., 1882; p.278.
  2. Charles Augustus Goodrich. The family tourist: A visit to the principal cities of the western continent: embracing an account of their situation, origin, plan, extent, their inhabitants, manners, customs, and amusements ... together with sketches of historical events. Case, Tiffany and company, 1848; p.57.
  3. John Hayward. A gazetteer of Massachusetts. J. Hayward, 1847.
  4. Bacon, Edwin M. (1922). Boston: A Guide Book to the City and Vicinity.
  5. The Nation. Nov. 14, 1872.
  6. Bacon, Edwin M. (1886). Bacon's Dictionary of Boston. Retrieved 2023-10-06.
  7. Justin Winsor. The memorial history of Boston, including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880. J. R. Osgood and co., 1881.

Images
  • State Street
    State Street
  • State Street
    State Street
  • Detail of 1860s map of Boston, showing Merchants Exchange building
    Detail of 1860s map of Boston, showing Merchants Exchange building
  • The Exchange, ca.1885
    The Exchange, ca.1885
  • Reading room, ca.1885
    Reading room, ca.1885

42°21′31.33″N 71°3′22.56″W

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