Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York

As the first such commercial organization in the United States, it attracted the participation of a number of New York's most influential business leaders, including John Jacob Astor, Peter Cooper, and J. Pierpont Morgan.

The chamber's members were instrumental in the realization of several key initiatives in the region – including the Erie Canal, the Atlantic cable, and the New York City Transit Authority.

Governor Colden and was granted a royal charter from King George III incorporating it as “the Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce in the City of New York in America.”[1] At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the membership was divided into loyalist and patriot factions.

In 1858, the Chamber released its first annual report which outlined the condition of mercantile affairs and important changes in business markets connected to the general trade of the country.

[11] By this time the Chamber had outgrown its current location and decided that the Underwriters' building on William and Cedar Streets would provide more space for the growing library and membership.

The Chamber estimated the losses suffered from the CSS Alabama at twelve million dollars[14] and wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, encouraging him to take immediate action.

A committee was appointed to determine the manner in which the Chamber should express its appreciation to the crew of Kearsarge and twenty-five thousand dollars was raised and distributed among them.