The 1907 U.S. financial crisis was called the Panic of 1907.
The panic intensified in October 1907 after the Knickerbocker Trust Company failed. The immediate trigger was an unsuccessful attempt by speculators F. Augustus Heinze and Charles W. Morse to corner the stock of United Copper Company. When the scheme collapsed, depositors rushed to withdraw funds from trust companies.
J. Pierpont Morgan organized emergency private financing and persuaded banks to support threatened institutions. The episode exposed the weakness of the United States banking system, which lacked a central bank capable of acting as a lender of last resort.
The panic helped persuade American lawmakers that a permanent institution was needed. The Federal Reserve System was created in 1913. The Panic of 1907 is sometimes confused with the earlier Panic of 1893, another severe U.S. banking and railroad crisis.