1 Hanover Square (aka India House) in New York City, the original location of the Cotton Exchange

The New York Cotton Exchange (NYCE) was founded in 1870 by a group of one hundred cotton brokers and merchants at 1 Hanover Square (aka India House) in New York City. The oldest commodities exchange in the city, well into the 20th century, cotton was a leading American commodity for both export and domestic consumption. In that era, other major exchanges existed in the United States, such as the Memphis Cotton Exchange, Savannah Cotton Exchange, the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, and the Houston Cotton Exchange, plus the important Liverpool Cotton Exchange in Liverpool, England. The NYCE and the Memphis Cotton Exchange are the only organizations of that group still active today.

Annually until 1958, the NYCE published the Cotton Year Book that contained the year's statistics on the cotton industry. Over the years, the NYCE created various subsidiaries to trade non-cotton contracts, including the Wool Associates, the Citrus Associates, the Tomato Products Associates, and the Financial Instruments Exchange (FINEX). In 1998, the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) became the parent company of both the New York Cotton Exchange and the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange (founded 1882).

The New York Cotton Exchange was a tenant at 4 World Trade Center on the 8th floor until September 11, 2001. Following the terrorist attacks that day it had to relocate to temporary facilities in Long Island City that had been set up as an emergency backup location following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Since 2003, its headquarters and trading facility have been in the New York Mercantile Exchange Building in Lower Manhattan.

[edit] External links

• New York Board of Trade