n, the recently elected first president of
the United States, was officially greeted at the coffee house by the
governor of the State, the mayor of the city, and the lesser municipal
officers.

As a meeting place for societies and lodges the Merchants coffee house
was long distinguished. In addition to the purely commercial
organizations that gathered in its long room, these bodies regularly met
there in their early days: The Society of Arts, Agriculture and Economy;
Knights of Corsica; New York Committee of Correspondence; New York
Marine Society; Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York; Lodge 169,
Free and Accepted Masons; Whig Society; Society of the New York
Hospital; St. Andrew's Society; Society of the Cincinnati; Society of
the Sons of St. Patrick; Society for Promoting the Manumission of
Slaves; Society for the Relief of Distressed Debtors; Black Friars
Society; Independent Rangers; and Federal Republicans.

Here also came the men who, in 1784, formed the Bank of New York, the
first financial institution in the city; and here was held, in 1790, the
first public sale of stocks by sworn brokers. Here, too, was held the
organization meeting of subscribers to the Tontine coffee house, which
in a few years was to prove a worthy rival.

_Some Lesser Known Coffee Houses_

Before taking up the story of the famous Tontine coffee house it should
be noted that the Merchants coffee house had some prior measure of
competition. For four years the Exchange coffee room sought to cater to
the wants of the merchants around the foot of Broad Street. It was
located in the Royal Exchange, which had been erected in 1752 in place
of the old Exchange, and until 1754 had been used as a store. Then
William Keen and Alexander Lightfoot got control and started their
coffee room, with a ball room attached. The partnership split up in
1756, Lightfoot continuing operations until he died the next year, when
his widow tried to carry it on. In 1758 it had reverted into its
original character of a mercantile establishment.

[Illustration: THE TONTINE COFFEE HOUSE (SECOND BUILDING AT THE LEFT),
OPENED IN 1792

This is the original structure, northwest corner of Wall and Water
Streets, which was succeeded about 1850 by a five-story building (see
page 122) that in turn was replaced by a modern office building]

Then there was the Whitehall coffee house, which two men, named Rogers
and Humphreys, opened in 1762, with the announcement t