In 1868, delegates from boards of trades and chambers of commerce from across the country planned to attend a national meeting in Boston. Responsibility for planning the entertainment of this convention was placed upon a committee of delegates from the Boston Board of Trade, known as the Entertainment Committee. After the convention, the Committee continued to meet to discuss local issues. On November 7, 1868, they formally organized as the Commercial Club of Boston (CCB). The CCB later separated from the Boston Board of Trade and became an independent social organization.

The CCB defined its purpose in the organization's constitution as "advancing by social intercourse, and by a friendly interchange of views, the commercial prosperity and growth of the City of Boston." The CCB was run by an elected Executive Committee which consisted of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and three other members. Officers were elected on an annual basis. Nominations for club membership were made to the Executive Committee.

Meetings were held monthly and included a lecture on a contemporary topic followed by dinner. Prominent guests included Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and William McKinley. The club meetings allowed local merchants from different sectors of Boston's economy to come together to discuss issues related to the city's economic growth. Lecture topics included the proposed Museum of Fine Arts, the telephone, Arctic explorations, and the Panama Canal.

Sister clubs were formed in Chicago (1878), Cincinnati (1880), and St. Louis (1881). The clubs would occasionally hold joint meetings. The CCB continued to exist as an independent men's club into the 1920s. By the early 1930s, it merged into the Merchant's Club of Boston.

Source:

Batcheller, Robert, and Commercial Club of Boston. Constitution, officers, chronology, retrospect. Boston: 1906. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89060944279