The Panic of 1873 began the long economic depression known as the Long Depression.
The panic started in Europe and the United States after speculative investment in railways and property weakened. In the United States, the failure of the banking firm Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873 helped trigger a run on banks and a suspension of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Railway failures, falling prices, reduced investment, and banking distress spread the downturn. The period that followed was later called the Long Depression, although its severity and dates differed across countries.
The panic is also associated with the end of the post-Civil War boom in the United States. It should not be confused with the Panic of 1893, another major American financial crisis linked to railroad failures and banking instability.