The Panic of 1873 helped begin the long international depression known as the Long Depression.
The panic started in Europe and the United States after the failure of the investment firm Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873. The firm had heavily promoted bonds for the Northern Pacific Railway, and concern about railroad speculation spread through financial markets. The New York Stock Exchange closed temporarily for the first time in its history.
Bank failures, falling prices, and business contractions followed in several countries. The downturn was especially prolonged, though historians debate the exact dates and severity of the Long Depression in different economies. Industrial production and employment suffered, and many railroads entered bankruptcy.
The event is sometimes confused with the Panic of 1893, another U.S. financial crisis involving railroad failures. The 1873 panic occurred two decades earlier and had strong connections to European financial stress and railway speculation.