J. P. Morgan organized a rescue of the U.S. banking system during the Panic of 1907 from his New York library.
Morgan summoned bankers, examined their balance sheets, and helped coordinate loans and commitments when financial institutions faced runs and a severe shortage of confidence. The crisis began after a failed attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company, but it spread through trust companies and the broader financial system. The Knickerbocker Trust Company’s collapse was a particularly important moment.
The United States did not yet have a central bank that could act as a lender of last resort. Morgan therefore performed a role that later became associated with central-bank crisis management. His intervention helped prevent a still broader collapse, although the emergency response was improvised and depended heavily on one private financier. The Panic of 1907 encouraged support for monetary reform and contributed to the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913. Morgan’s library was at 36th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan.