Mobile established a cotton exchange in 1871, just a year after New York's and New Orleans' were founded, making it the third oldest in the nation. These organizations were founded by cotton brokers and merchants to coordinate the rules and regulations for the sale, purchase and handling of cotton. Savannah followed suit in 1872 and Memphis in 1873. In Mobile, the agency first made its home on St. Michael Street. In 1886, workers erected a building of red pressed brick on the northwest corner of St. Francis and North Commerce streets. A newspaper account termed it "an artistic combination of the Modern Renaissance and Queen Anne style of architecture." Architect Rudolph Benz designed the building. A massive bale of cotton adorned with an oversized gold crown topped the south front of the building, to "indicate the kingly way of old cotton." Molded reliefs of a bear and a bull loomed over the entrance, "symbolic of the two controlling elements in cotton transactions." The first floor was also designed to house the Mobile Chamber of Commerce. In that organization's honor, a large statue of the "Goddess of Commerce" topped the Commerce Street facade. With her foot resting on an anchor and a wreath in her right hand, she was said to represent Mobile's commerce by sea and by land. The main trading room for the cotton exchange featured an elaborately stenciled and painted ceiling, with borders ranging from "strong coffee color" to a silvery blue. Medallions bore the heads of bulls and bears, as well as cotton bales. A 12-foot-long panel depicted a view of Liverpool, while smaller murals showed London's Woolwich Docks and the port of Le Havre in France - all ports vital to Mobile's cotton trade. Woodwork of ash and black walnut accented the interior. An entrance hall on the west side of the building passed a sweeping staircase and led to a passenger elevator. The upper floors held the offices of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. This grand monument to cotton and commerce went up in flames around 1917. Along with all the fine woodwork went hundreds of volumes of commercial and financial information, dating back to 1819. By 1923, the vacant lot became home to a gas station. The whole street vanished when Water Street was widened. The exchange relocated to a St. Francis Street address and occupied an office on the second floor of the First National Bank Annex facing Bienville Square. The last listing for the organization was in 1942. New Orleans' cotton exchange lasted until 1964, but New York's is still in existence. Like Mobile's, its office has faced terrible circumstances. The New York Cotton Exchange was located at 4 World Trade Center, until September 11, 2001. Today, its headquarters is the New York Mercantile Exchange Building in Lower Manhattan. Image information: The Mobile Cotton Exchange shared the first floor of this 1886 red pressed brick building with the Chamber of Commerce. Sculptures along its roofline depict "King Cotton" and the "Goddess of Commerce." It stood on the northwest corner of St. Francis and North Commerce streets, until a fire destroyed the builiding around 1917. Photo courtesy USA Archives