In 1792 New York City brokers first met to form an agreement on trading and commissions of securities, principally government bonds. Their meeting place was at 70 Wall Street under a spreading buttonwood tree. Soon thereafter, the first building for meeting at the northwest corner of Wall and Water Streets, already the accepted place for merchants and bankers to meet socially at around noontime. So it was a natural that it became a regular meeting place for business and trading. In effect, it was the precursor to the current New York Stock Exchange, until it found a more formal home at the first Merchant's Exchange in 1827. The current New York Stock Exchange Building dates back to 1865, with many changes and renovations, from time to time, to the present day. This Mid-19th Century engraving shows the Tontine Coffee House in its heyday in 1797, with merchants on the landing outside, and the streets bustling with other merchants, bankers, and pedestrians.