The Panic of 1873 marked the start of the Long Depression in the United States and Europe.
The panic began amid speculative railway investment, falling asset values, and financial instability. In the United States, the failure of the banking firm Jay Cooke & Company on September 18, 1873, helped set off a broader crisis. The New York Stock Exchange closed temporarily on September 20.
Bank failures, business failures, and unemployment followed. The resulting downturn lasted for years, although historians debate its exact length and whether “Long Depression” best describes the entire period. In Britain, the prolonged weakness is also called the Great Depression of the nineteenth century.
This event is separate from the 1929 Wall Street Crash and the Panic of 1907. The 1873 crisis occurred during rapid railway expansion and the transition toward more interconnected industrial finance. It also contributed to political debates over currency, banking, and government economic policy.