Despite the fact that New York City was the temporary capital of the United States from 1785 to 1790, the first real stock exchange begun in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1790. This was a simple finical market in which traders needed to have their offices close to the stock exchange so that messengers could keep the brokers up to date with current information. Many cities had their own finical markets because of how slow information traveled. The first major innovation of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange was a signal-system between Philadelphia and New York. This system brought news of current stock prices, lottery ticket information and other important news. The signal-system was a simple yet complex operation. The signal system started in Philadelphia with lines running along the mountains through New Jersey ending with a station hub in New York City. The stations consisted of a basic watch tower with telescopes, flags, and signal beacons to relay information from tower to tower. This
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