The 1893 U.S. panic followed railroad failures and helped trigger a severe depression called the Panic of 1893.
Several major railroads failed after aggressive expansion and heavy borrowing, damaging confidence in railway securities and banks. The collapse of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in February 1893 and the failure of the National Cordage Company in May intensified financial fears.
Bank runs spread, businesses failed, and unemployment rose. The panic also contributed to the exhaustion of the U.S. Treasury's gold reserves and intensified political conflict over the monetary system, especially the debate between supporters of gold and silver.
The Panic of 1893 is sometimes confused with the Panic of 1873, another crisis associated with railroad speculation. It is also different from the Panic of 1907, which led directly to discussions that culminated in the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913.