Which trust company failed in October 1907, helping trigger the Panic of 1907 in the United States?

Knickerbocker Trust Company failed in October 1907, helping trigger the Panic of 1907 in the United States.

The company was New York's third-largest trust at the time. A failed attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company damaged confidence in financier F. Augustus Heinze and his associates. After Heinze's connection to Knickerbocker became public, depositors rushed to withdraw their money, and the trust suspended operations on October 22, 1907.

The panic spread as depositors and banks hoarded cash. J. Pierpont Morgan organized private support for threatened institutions and helped coordinate emergency lending. His intervention became a famous example of how a private financier could act as a lender of last resort when the United States lacked a modern central bank.

The crisis helped build political support for the Federal Reserve System, established in 1913. Knickerbocker's failure was important, but it was one part of a broader chain involving speculation, fragile trust companies, and a shortage of liquidity.