Which financial firm’s September 1873 failure helped trigger the Panic of 1873 in the United States?

Jay Cooke & Company’s failure in September 1873 helped trigger the Panic of 1873 in the United States.

Jay Cooke & Company was a major American investment banking firm that had helped finance the Northern Pacific Railway. When it could not sell enough railroad bonds, the firm suspended operations on September 18, 1873. Its collapse undermined confidence in banks and railroad financing.

The New York Stock Exchange temporarily closed on September 20, an extraordinary response to the spreading financial panic. Railroad failures, speculative overbuilding, tight credit, and problems in European markets also contributed to the crisis, so Jay Cooke’s failure was a trigger rather than the only cause.

The Panic of 1873 developed into a lengthy international depression often called the Long Depression. It is sometimes confused with later banking failures, especially Barings Bank in 1890 or Lehman Brothers in 2008. Jay Cooke & Company belongs specifically to the American crisis of 1873.