The first Annual Dinner was held on December 21, 1805 at the City Hotel on Broadway with 154 Members in attendance. Every year since 1805, the Society has hosted speakers at various venues, including Delmonico's Restaurant, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and Sherry’s in New York City. The roster of speakers who attended these Dinners includes Commander Stephen Decatur, War of 1812 Hero, statesman Daniel Webster, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant., J. Pierpont Morgan (the 26th NES President), Theodore Roosevelt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and Woodrow Wilson.