The 1873 financial panic that began in Europe and helped trigger a long U.S. depression was the Panic of 1873.
The crisis followed years of heavy investment and speculation in railways, especially in the United States and Europe. In Vienna, the stock-market collapse of May 1873 exposed fragile credit conditions. Later that year, the failure of Jay Cooke & Company in the United States helped spread panic because the firm had financed Northern Pacific Railway projects.
The resulting contraction damaged banks, railroads, businesses, and employment. In the United States, the downturn is commonly associated with the Long Depression, although historians debate the exact boundaries and severity of that depression. The New York Stock Exchange temporarily closed after the crisis intensified in September 1873.
The Panic of 1873 is not the same event as the Panic of 1893, which also involved railroad failures and banking stress. Both crises had strong railroad connections, making their dates and causes easy to confuse.