Which company collapsed at the center of the Panic of 1857?

The Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company collapsed at the center of the Panic of 1857.

The company’s New York City office failed in August 1857 after revelations of embezzlement and financial irregularities. Its collapse damaged confidence in banks and businesses at a time when railroad speculation, land investment, and unstable credit had already made the economy vulnerable.

The panic spread through the United States, causing bank suspensions, falling securities prices, and a sharp contraction in commerce. It was one of the first major financial crises to affect the United States nationally and internationally, with disturbances also reaching European markets.

The crisis contributed to unemployment and business failures before recovery began. It is sometimes confused with later American panics involving the Knickerbocker Trust Company in 1907 or Jay Cooke & Company in 1873; those were separate institutions and separate crises.