Which 1873 financial crisis is also called the Long Depression’s starting point?

The financial crisis commonly identified as the Long Depression’s starting point was the Panic of 1873.

The panic began in Vienna in May 1873 and reached the United States after the failure of the investment firm Jay Cooke & Company on September 18. Jay Cooke had heavily promoted Northern Pacific Railway bonds, and a collapse in railroad speculation damaged banks and investors. The New York Stock Exchange closed temporarily for the first time in its history, from September 20 to September 29.

The resulting downturn spread across industrial economies. Falling prices, bank failures, business closures, and unemployment contributed to a prolonged period of weak growth that historians call the Long Depression. The label and exact boundaries of that depression vary by country and historian.

The Panic of 1873 is sometimes confused with later American panics, especially 1893. The 1873 event was strongly associated with railroad finance, international banking connections, and the end of a speculative expansion after the Franco-Prussian War.