Banks of New York (collective)

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type: state
Start Date: May 9, 1837
Location: New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 2b8ad14d

Response Measures

None

Description

Article describes the Dry Dock Bank of New York closing doors on 1837-05-09 and, the next day, 'all the banks of that city suspended specie payment.' This is a citywide suspension tied to the 1837 crash (macroeconomic shock). It does not state permanent failure of all banks; historically banks later resumed specie payments, so classified as suspension_reopening.

Events (2)

1. May 9, 1837 Other

Newspaper Excerpt: On the 9th of that month the Dry Dock Bank of New York closed its doorn, and on the next day all the banks of that city suspended specie payment.
Source: newspapers

2. May 10, 1837 Suspension

Cause: Macro News
Cause Details: Widespread financial crash of May 1837 following collapsing commodity prices and nationwide panic; banks suspended specie payments citywide.
Newspaper Excerpt: on the next day all the banks of that city suspended specie payment.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. August 18, 1907 The Times Dispatch Richmond, VA

Article from The Times Dispatch, August 18, 1907

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

freight, first being sent to Washington and then out to the several State capitals. When the banks had thus been stripped of their coin the President issued a circular to receivers of public money not to receive anything but specle in payment of public lands. In May. 1837, the crash came. On the 9th of that month the Dry Dock Bank of New York closed its doorn, and on the next day all the banks of that city suspended specie payment. This was followed rapidly by the banks everywhere. In August, 1836, cotton was selling for twenty cents a pound; in May, 1837, it dropped to eight. Every cotton house in the South went down, and in Mobile nine-tenths of the merchants failed. It was as bad in New Orleans and other cities of the South. There was nothing but bankruptcy and ruin anywhere. "By 1857 the country had recovered from the distresses of twenty years before, and the people had entered upon another era of over-speculation. Hundreds of irresponsible banks were started. especially in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. Paper Currency Issued. "Millions of dollars of paper cur-