The New York Stock Exchange panic that helped lead to the creation of the Federal Reserve was the Panic of 1907.
The Panic of 1907 began after a failed attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company. Depositors then withdrew funds from banks and trust companies connected to the speculators. The crisis spread through financial markets, and the Knickerbocker Trust Company collapsed after a run.
J. Pierpont Morgan organized private support for threatened institutions and demanded financial commitments from bankers. His intervention helped prevent a wider collapse, but it also revealed the weakness of relying on one private financier as a lender of last resort.
Congress responded by creating the National Monetary Commission, whose work contributed to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The Federal Reserve System opened in 1914. The panic therefore did not directly create the central bank overnight, but it was a major political and financial catalyst.