The Panic of 1893 was the U.S. financial crisis that caused bank failures and a severe depression.
The crisis followed the collapse of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and growing doubts about railroad finances. The failure of the National Cordage Company intensified fears, while uncertainty about U.S. monetary policy and the gold supply encouraged depositors and investors to demand cash.
More than 500 banks failed during the panic, and unemployment rose sharply. The depression that followed was one of the worst in nineteenth-century American history. The crisis also contributed to political conflict over whether the United States should maintain a strict gold standard or expand the use of silver.
The Panic of 1893 is distinct from the Panic of 1873 and the Panic of 1907. Those were separate crises with different immediate triggers.