In its prime, the Tontine was among New York City's busiest centers for the buying and selling of stocks and other wares, for business dealings and discussion, and for political transaction. Having had a dual function as a combination club and a meeting room, The coffee house also provided a place for the registration of ship cargo and the
trading of slaves. The Tontine was noted as classless; :The Tontine Coffee House was filled with underwriters, brokers, merchants, traders, and politicians; selling, purchasing, trafficking, or insuring; some reading, others eagerly inquiring the news […] The steps and balcony of the coffee-house were crowded with people bidding, or listening to the several auctioneers, who had elevated themselves upon a hogshead of sugar, a puncheon of rum, or a bale of cotton; and with Stentorian voices were exclaiming, "Once, twice. Once, twice." "Another cent." "Thank ye gentlemen." [...] The coffee-house slip, and the corners of Wall and Pearl-streets, were jammed up with carts, drays, and wheelbarrows [...] Everything was in motion; all was life, bustle and activity... Political demonstrations and violence were not uncommon at the Tontine Coffee House. An anonymous observer wrote: :Whenever two or three people are gather'd together, it is expected there is a Quarrel and they crowd round, hence other squabbles arise. On one occasion, French Revolutionists and supporters of the
Tammany Hall movement scaled the coffee house and placed a
French Liberty Cap on the roof. Several New York publications mentioned the particular, those newspapers with pro-
Jacobin or pro–Democratic-Republican slants applauded the perpetrators and encouraged the Tontine's proprietors to allow the Cap to remain. The growth of the Tontine's trade proceedings had effected the creation of the
New York Stock and Exchange Board (NYSEB) and necessitated a larger venue. The NYSEB is recognized as the precursor to the present-day
New York Stock Exchange, the largest
stock exchange in the world. It survived the
Great Fire of 1835 and was demolished in the spring of 1855 to make way for a larger Tontine coffee house. The newer building was itself demolished in 1901. ==Notes==