The 1893 U.S. financial panic that caused bank failures, railroad collapses, and a severe stock-market downturn was the Panic of 1893.
The crisis was intensified by concerns about railroad financing and the ability of the U.S. government to maintain its gold reserves. The failure of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in February 1893 damaged confidence, followed by the collapse of the National Cordage Company.
Bank runs spread, hundreds of banks failed, and unemployment rose sharply. The depression that followed became one of the most severe economic downturns in nineteenth-century America.
The panic also shaped national politics. Debate over monetary policy, especially the role of silver and gold, became central in the 1896 presidential election. It predates the better-known 1907 and 1929 crises.