Pittsburgh Stock Exchange

Oil and Coal Exchange The Pittsburgh Stock Exchange was formed in 1864 as the "Oil Exchange." It was alternatively named the Pittsburgh Coal Exchange starting on May 27, 1870, The building of the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange was destroyed in a fire on October 29, 1896. On December 24, 1969, The Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington Stock Exchange bought the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange with the commitment to keep the trading floor operational in the city, yet a national economic downturn and increased computerization and centralization led to the Exchange closing after trading ended at 3 PM on August 23, 1974. At its height the exchange traded over 1,200 companies but by the last trading day in 1974 only Pittsburgh Brewing Company, Williams & Company and Westinghouse remained listed. A total of 11 companies traded the last day with 3,100 shares. The stock exchange closed its Fourth Avenue "financial district" doors in August 1974 after computerization had consolidated trades in New York, Chicago, and other global centers. Some academics posit the exchange closed due to an extended national bear market and increased computerization that would eventually centralize much regional stock market trading to New York City. ==Locations==

From April 1, 1903 until October 1962 the stock exchange was located at 229 Fourth Avenue. From October 1962 until it closed in August 1974 it was located at the two-story 8,500 square foot structure at 333 Fourth Avenue. Prior to 1903 it was located in rented quarters of the Pittsburgh Bank for Savings on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Smithfield Street. After the exchange closed, ==Executives==

John Baxter Barbour, Jr. (April 16, 1862–March 11, 1929) was president of the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange for eight terms. Barbour was elected to membership in the Oil Exchange when he was nineteen years of age, and of the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange, was one of the organizers and a charter member. He became president in 1911. On May 3, 1916, he was again elected president. For two terms he was treasurer of the Pittsburgh Petroleum, Stock and Metal Exchange. On June 7, 1936 Pittsburgh Stock Exchange secretary Paul Leitch died suddenly at 36 from a heart attack. ==See also==