The Panic of 1893 followed the collapse of railroad financing and the failure of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad.
The railroad company entered receivership on 23 February 1893, helping undermine confidence in heavily indebted railroads and banks. Other pressures included falling silver prices, concerns about the U.S. gold reserve, and a speculative boom that had left financial institutions vulnerable.
The panic produced a major economic depression. More than 500 banks failed in the United States, and unemployment rose sharply. The crisis also contributed to labor unrest, including the Pullman Strike of 1894, and intensified the national political debate over silver and monetary policy.
The event is sometimes confused with the Panic of 1873 because both involved railroads and long depressions. The 1893 panic, however, occurred two decades later and was closely connected to the gold-reserve crisis and the collapse of Reading Railroad financing.