On November 15, 1867, the first stock ticker was unveiled in New
York City. The advent of the ticker ultimately revolutionized the
stock market by making up-to-the-minute prices available to
investors around the country.
Prior to this development, information from the New York Stock Exchange, which has been around since 1792, traveled by mail
or messenger.
The ticker was the brainchild of Edward Calahan (1838-1912) who configured a telegraph machine to print stock quotes on streams
of paper tape (the same paper tape later used in ticker-tape
parades).