The 1893 US financial panic that followed the failure of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was the Panic of 1893.
Railroad overbuilding and excessive borrowing had left many companies vulnerable. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad entered receivership in February 1893, and confidence deteriorated further when the National Cordage Company failed. Banks and businesses faced withdrawals, while investors sold securities.
The crisis produced a severe depression in the United States. Hundreds of banks and railroads failed, unemployment rose sharply, and industrial production contracted. The panic also intensified political arguments over whether the United States should maintain its existing gold-backed monetary policy.
The event is sometimes confused with the Panic of 1873 or the Panic of 1907. Those were separate crises, although all three involved banking stress, railroad finance, and the absence of a modern central bank capable of acting as lender of last resort.