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The Tontine Coffee House was a
coffeehouse A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-c ...
in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, established in early 1793. Situated at 82
Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
, on the north-west corner of Water Street,Nathans, p. 133 it was built by a group of
stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks ...
s to serve as a meeting place for trade and correspondence. It was organized as a
tontine A tontine () is an investment linked to a living person which provides an income for as long as that person is alive. Such schemes originated as plans for governments to raise capital in the 17th century and became relatively widespread in the 18 ...
, a type of investment plan, and funded by the sale of 203 shares of £200 each.Guide to the Records of the Tontine Coffee-House
/ref> The May 17, 1792, creation of the
Buttonwood Agreement The Buttonwood Agreement is the founding document of what is now New York Stock Exchange and is one of the most important financial documents in U.S. history. The agreement organized securities trading in New York City and was signed on May 1 ...
, which bound its signatories to trade only with each other, effectively gave rise to a new organization of tradespeople.Sobel, p. 21


History

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.Antol, p. 53 Having had a dual function as a combination club and a meeting room, the coffee house played host to auctions, banquets, and balls, among others. After hours, gambling and securities dealings were that were then deemed less than honest. The coffee house also provided a place for the registration of ship cargo and the trading of slaves. The Tontine was noted as classless; individuals from all social strata met there and collectively engaged in the many civil and economic affairs. John Lambert, an English traveller, wrote in 1807: :
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. In the wake of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...
, fistfights between those respectively sympathetic to the British and the French broke out on a daily basis. 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 Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
movement scaled the coffee house and placed a French Liberty Cap on the roof.Nathans, p. 136 Several New York publications mentioned the particular, those newspapers with pro-
Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = P ...
or pro–Democratic-Republican slants applauded the perpetrators and encouraged the Tontine's proprietors to allow the Cap to remain. In addition, an onlooker named Alexander Anderson describes conflict between Whigs and
Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...
s at the Tontine in a June 11, 1793, diary entry: :
st night there was an affray at the Tontine Coffee House between Whig and Tory, or to modernize it, aristocrat and democrat.
In December 1793, New York's '' Columbian Gazetteer'' complained that "only persons of the same party" would now associate within the Tontine. Trading at the Tontine Coffee House continued until 1817.Antol, p. 52 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.Fisher, p. 59 The NYSEB is recognised as the precursor to the present-day
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
, the largest
stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for the ...
in the world. The Tontine itself was transformed into a tavern by a John Morse in 1826, and a hotel by Lovejoy & Belcher in 1832. 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 1905.


Notes

* * * *Hewitt, Robert (Jr.) (1872)
''Coffee: Its History, Cultivation, and Uses.''
New York: D. Appleton and Company. * * *


References


External links


Guide to the Records of the Tontine Coffee-House, 1738-1879
{{Portal bar, New York City, Food, Business 1793 establishments in New York (state) American companies established in 1793 Buildings and structures demolished in 1855 Coffeehouses and cafés in the United States American companies disestablished in 1826 Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Financial District, Manhattan New York Stock Exchange Restaurants established in 1793 Wall Street