What event in 1873 gave its name to the U.S. financial panic that followed?

Jay Cooke and Company’s failure gave its name to the U.S. financial panic that followed in 1873.

Jay Cooke and Company was a major American investment bank that marketed bonds for the Northern Pacific Railway. On September 18, 1873, the firm suspended operations after it could not find enough buyers for its railroad securities. The failure destroyed confidence in banks and railways and helped spread a financial crisis.

The New York Stock Exchange closed temporarily, from September 20 to September 29, 1873. Railroad construction and investment contracted, banks failed, and the resulting depression lasted for years in the United States. The downturn was also international and is often called the Long Depression.

The panic had several causes, including excessive railroad speculation, weak banking practices, and monetary tensions. Jay Cooke’s failure was the immediate shock that exposed those vulnerabilities, not the sole underlying cause of the entire depression.