Which investment bank’s collapse in 1873 helped start the Long Depression?

Jay Cooke & Company’s collapse in 1873 helped start the Long Depression.

The major American banking firm failed on September 18, 1873, after it could not sell enough Northern Pacific Railway bonds. The failure undermined confidence in the financial system and contributed to a panic that spread through American markets.

The panic was also connected to railroad speculation, excessive borrowing, and international financial weakness. The Vienna Stock Exchange had crashed earlier in the year, and financial stress spread across Europe and North America. In the United States, the New York Stock Exchange temporarily closed for the first time in its history.

The resulting downturn is often called the Long Depression. Its timing and severity varied by country, and historians debate whether “depression” or “Great Depression” best describes the period, but the 1873 panic is widely treated as its American starting point.