The long U.S. stock-market slump known as the Panic of 1873 began in 1873.
The panic erupted in the United States after the failure of Jay Cooke & Company on September 18, 1873. The firm had heavily promoted bonds for the Northern Pacific Railway, and doubts about railroad financing triggered a loss of confidence. The New York Stock Exchange closed temporarily for the first time in its history, remaining shut for ten days.
The crisis spread through financial markets and was followed by bank failures, business closures, falling prices, and high unemployment. In the United States, the resulting depression lasted for years and is often called the Long Depression, although historians differ over its exact end date and global severity. Germany and Austria had already experienced financial stress in 1873, so the panic belonged to a broader international downturn rather than an isolated American event.