The Panic of 1873 helped end the post–Civil War boom associated with the Gilded Age.
In the United States, the crisis erupted after Jay Cooke & Company failed on September 18, 1873. The firm had financed Northern Pacific Railway bonds, and doubts about railroad investment spread through financial markets. The New York Stock Exchange closed for the first time in its history, from September 20 to September 29.
The panic became part of a wider international depression. Railroads failed, banks and businesses contracted, unemployment rose, and prices fell. In the United States, the resulting downturn lasted for years and is often called the Long Depression, although historians debate the label and its exact scope.
The crash was not caused solely by one railroad or one bank. Excessive railroad construction, speculative finance, and monetary disputes all contributed. Germany and Austria had experienced a related market collapse earlier in 1873, showing the crisis’s international character.