The announcement of the KCBT being acquired by the CME today certainly will draw a quicker close to the trading floor in Kansas City rather than if it remained a member owned organization. Although the pit is expected to remain open for atleast six more months, the acquisition makes the decision to close it easier because that floor population was the most close knit of any I've experienced. When I was at the KCBT last week, it was clear that the floor made more sense to close with how slow things were but deciding on an ultimatum could've taken a while to finalize.
The KC Star newspaper posted a photo gallery of KCBT "Through the Years" and it brings back a lot of memories since I began there as a clerk after seeing the floor and immediately knowing thats what I wanted to do in life.
The link to the gallery is here.