The collapse of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad helped trigger the Panic of 1893.
The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad entered receivership in February 1893 after years of financial difficulty. Its failure was one of the events that undermined confidence in heavily indebted railroads and helped set off the Panic of 1893. The crisis soon spread to banks, businesses, and investors across the United States.
The panic was also connected to debate over U.S. monetary policy, especially the country’s gold reserves and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. A run on gold reduced confidence in the dollar, while bank failures and railroad bankruptcies caused severe economic contraction. Unemployment rose sharply, though estimates vary because national labor statistics were limited.
The event is separate from the Panic of 1873, another railroad-centered crisis, and from the Panic of 1907, which followed the failure of Knickerbocker Trust. The 1893 panic helped produce major political conflict over gold and silver, including the presidential campaign of 1896.