The 1873 financial crisis in the United States after Jay Cooke & Company failed was called the Panic of 1873.
Jay Cooke & Company suspended payments on September 18, 1873, after it could not sell enough bonds connected with the Northern Pacific Railway. The failure shook confidence in banks and railroads, sectors that had attracted extensive investment and speculation.
The New York Stock Exchange closed temporarily during the crisis, an unusual step that reflected the intensity of the financial disruption. The panic was part of a broader international downturn that affected Europe as well as North America.
In the United States, the resulting depression lasted for years and is often associated with the Long Depression. The crisis is distinct from the Panic of 1893, another major American financial panic that also involved railroad failures but occurred two decades later.