The failure of Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873 helped trigger the Panic of 1873.
Jay Cooke & Company was a major U.S. investment bank that had financed railroads and government borrowing. When it failed on September 18, 1873, confidence in railroad securities and other financial institutions deteriorated rapidly.
The panic forced the New York Stock Exchange to close for the first time in its history, remaining shut from September 20 to September 29. Bank failures, falling investment, and business contraction followed in the United States and Europe.
The resulting depression is often called the Long Depression, although historians debate its exact duration and severity. The panic itself refers to the financial shock at the start of the downturn, while the longer economic slump continued for years.