Which U.S. financial crisis began with a 1907 run on Knickerbocker Trust Company?

The U.S. financial crisis that began with a 1907 run on Knickerbocker Trust Company was the Panic of 1907.

The panic erupted in October 1907 after an attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company failed. Depositors then rushed to withdraw money from Knickerbocker Trust, one of New York’s largest trust companies. Its collapse damaged confidence in other financial institutions and encouraged further runs.

Banker J. P. Morgan organized emergency private financing and helped stabilize the banking system. The crisis also exposed weaknesses in the United States’ fragmented banking structure, which lacked a central bank capable of supplying emergency liquidity.

The Panic of 1907 helped build political support for the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913. It is sometimes confused with the Panic of 1893 or the Panic of 1873, but those were separate U.S. financial crises with different causes and timelines.