The 1873 financial crisis widely associated with the start of the Long Depression was the Panic of 1873.
The panic began in Vienna and spread internationally before reaching the United States. In America, the failure of Jay Cooke & Company on 18 September 1873 helped trigger a banking crisis. The New York Stock Exchange closed temporarily, and railroad companies—heavily financed during the post-Civil War expansion—came under severe pressure.
The resulting downturn brought bank failures, falling investment, unemployment, and prolonged weakness in industrial economies. Historians debate the exact duration and naming of the “Long Depression,” but the Panic of 1873 is a standard starting point for the episode.
It is sometimes confused with the Panic of 1893, another severe US financial crisis. The two events were separated by two decades, although both involved banking stress, railroad finance, and falling confidence.