rare original antique 1894 postcard from chicago stock exchange brokers to a prominent lawyer adolph loeb, seeking inspection of the yet to be completed building. the card is dated march 8th, 1894 and reads, "dear sir:- / we have an office in the ground floor of the building on the corner of washington and la salle streets, and an ELEVATOR RUNNING. we would be pleased to have you call and inspect the offices. / yours truly, / helliwell, treat & co., agents." the envelope is stamped march 10th and features an ornate bordered decorative stamp, "postal card one cent / united state of america / this side is for address only". in cursive founain penned handwriting, the card is addressed to "adolph loeb, esq. / 152 la salle st. / city". the chicago stock exchange was founded in a formal meeting in march 1882. in april of that same year, a lease was taken out at 115 dearborn street for the location of the exchange. in may, the stock exchange officially became public and opened its offices. the exchange began to flourish significantly in the late 1880's, with the rate of transactions of stocks and bonds increasing and earning them big profits. in 1894 the stock exchange moved its trading floor to the old chicago stock exchange building, designed by the firm of adler & sullivan, at the corner of washington and la salle. this building was demolished in 1972, but the original trading floor and main entrance can now be found reconstructed at the art institute of chicago. throughout the 1890's agents from the firm of helliwell, treat & co. were hired to manage the building. ferdinand wythe peck, jr., born in chicago in 1871, entered the real estate business with helliwell, treat & company in 1893. upon the death of mr. helliwell the following year the business continued as treat & peck; on withdrawal of mr. treat in 1895, peck continued as sole agent and manager of the chicago stock exchange building. he resigned in 1899 when the property was sold and soon became connected with the u.s. commission to the paris exposition in 1900.