The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that like most other venerable stock exchanges, Toronto's began modestly when a handful of businessmen got together in 1852 to trade the few securities available to them. The Globe's Brian Milner writes that the group would later expand to 24 people, including such prominent figures as distiller and banker William Gooderham. This was the genesis of the Toronto Stock Exchange that opened for business on this day in 1861, with a mere 18 listed securities, mainly in banking and real estate. Membership cost $5 and the typical trading day lasted 30 minutes. The first crash wiped out the market just eight years later when the leading banks collapsed. Eight of the founders tried again in September, 1871, with 34 securities listed. As they do today, financial firms dominated, accounting for more than 75 per cent of listed companies and the bulk of profits.