Which crisis began with the 1893 collapse of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad?

The crisis associated with the 1893 collapse of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was the Panic of 1893. The railroad’s failure helped trigger a banking and stock-market panic in the United States, where many rail companies had accumulated heavy debts and depended on continued investor confidence.

The panic led to widespread bank failures, business closures, falling commodity prices, and very high unemployment. It was part of a broader international economic depression that affected Europe and other regions. The United States also experienced intense political debate over currency policy, especially the role of silver and the gold standard.

The Panic of 1893 is distinct from the Panic of 1907, although both were major pre-Federal Reserve crises. Because the Federal Reserve did not yet exist, emergency support came from private financiers, banks, and government measures rather than from a central bank acting as lender of last resort.