Board of Trade

Founded in 1848 to stabilize fluctuating grain prices, the Chicago Board of Trade is the world's oldest futures and futures-option exchange. Its present location at the intersection of LaSalle and Jackson Streets was commissioned by the exchange in 1928 and completed in 1930. The Chicago architectural firm of Holabird & Root created this landmark Art Deco structure, which, rising forty-five stories above street level, was until 1955 the tallest building in the city. The pyramid-shaped roof is capped by a cast-aluminum statue of the Roman goddess of grain and harvest, Ceres.