Just as many speculators have entered and exited the market, history is filled with numerous commodities exchanges which served as designated contract markets to trade futures in the US.
The CFTC website has a listing of closed exchanges which is worth a quick perusal:
Vacated Designated Contract Markets
It's pretty easy to understand why an exchange in an isolated city like the Duluth Board of Trade would lose liquidity to the Minneapolis Grain Exchange and both to the CBOT but each exchange has it's own story. My simplest explanation on why the Chicago exchanges dominated the industry is that it had the largest population of well capitalized traders who grew liquidity by risking their own fortunes.
