The severe U.S. financial crisis that began in 1893 after railroad failures and bank runs was the Panic of 1893.
The collapse of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the failure of the National Cordage Company weakened confidence in heavily indebted businesses. Investors began withdrawing funds, and a wave of bank and railroad failures followed. The crisis quickly spread through the United States.
The panic produced one of the worst depressions in nineteenth-century America. Unemployment rose sharply, businesses closed, and many farmers faced falling crop prices and tight credit. The crisis also intensified political arguments over whether the country should maintain the gold standard or expand silver coinage.
The depression lasted for several years and helped shape the 1896 presidential election. It is distinct from the Panic of 1873, which began amid a different railroad and banking collapse.