Banks of this city - New York, NY

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type: state
Start Date: October 16, 1857
Location: New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: e4fd770c

Response Measures

None

Description

Article is a general report about the banks of New York rather than a single named institution. It describes a run for specie that led banks to suspend specie payments about sixty days earlier and reports that banks have resumed specie payments by mid-December 1857. I therefore treat this as a collective suspension followed by reopening of operations (resumption of specie).

Events (3)

1. October 16, 1857 Run

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Panic withdrawals triggered by the failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company and sudden large specie withdrawals.
Measures: Banks suspended specie payments; later resumed specie payments (resumption reported Dec. 14).
Newspaper Excerpt: the direct or rather the immediate cause was the combination among our Anglo-American banking houses and a class of depositors who became panic struck for a run for specie and the withdrawal of several millions of bullion in the space of a few hours.
Source: newspapers

2. October 16, 1857 Suspension

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Suspension of specie payments followed sudden run and the failure of Ohio Life and Trust Company which inaugurated the revulsion.
Newspaper Excerpt: It is only about sixty days since the banks of this city suspended specie payments.
Source: newspapers

3. December 14, 1857 Other

Newspaper Excerpt: The resumption of specie payments by the banks of this and other cities of the Union is an event of the most vital importance ... The banks start well fortified with specie. Those of this city have upwards of twenty-six millions of gold in their vaults ... The resumption of specie payments by the banks of this city for the week ending Dec. 12 ... .
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. December 15, 1857 The New York Herald New York, NY

Article from The New York Herald, December 15, 1857

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL. MONEY MARKET. MONDAY, Dec. 14-6 P M. The stock market was a little more active this morning, and in most securities a slight improvement was realized. There have been more operations on time for some days past than for many weeks before, and to-day most of the transactions were either buyer's or seller's option. The bears are in greater force, and do not like to lose this opportunity to put out good contracts. At the first board to-day Missouri 6's advanced ½ per cent; Illinois Central bonds, 2%; Park Bank, 3/2; Delaware and Hudson, %; Cumberland Coal, ½; New York Central Railroad, %; Erie, ½; Reading, 1%; Michigan Southern, old, 3/2; preferred, ½; Cleveland and Toledo, Va; Chicago and Rock Island, ½; La Crosse and Milwaukie, 3/20 At the second board the market was quite buoyant. The bulls made a bold push, and upon some small transactions put prices up for most of the leading railroad stocks. Cumberland Coal went up % per cent; Erie bonds, 1871, 1½; New York Central Railroad, 1; Erie, 1; Panama, 1½; Galena and Chicago, 1½; Michigan Southern, preferred. 13/4 do. old, 3/2; Cleveland and Toledo, 1½; Chicago and Rock Island, 1½; Reading, 11/4. There is nothing that we can see in the foreign news calculated to justify any inflation in the market value of our fancy railroad stocks. Speculators for a rise occasionally make an effort to get up an excitement to attract outsiders, but it invariably fails, and prices fall back to points lower than the starting rates. The old clique of bulls have been large sellers lately. They have sold out considerable New York Central at about current prices, and should, according to our ideas, feel much relieved. Not so the new buyers, for they will in all probability find it a bad bargain if they hold long enough. The market cannet be sustained at anything like present points, and the old operators who have been for some time past engaged in bulling fancy railroad stocks, find that they make no progress, and are getting out as fast as possible. The buyers at current rates are generally weak parties, who must realize at the end of their contracts, no matter what may be the state of prices. We understand that operations on the part of the Honduras Railroad Company have ceased for the present. They may or may not be resumed. Much depends, it is stated, upon the political movements of the government in Central America. It may be that financial difficulties are at the bottom, and in fact the real cause. The Assistant Treasurer reports to-day as follows:$79,122 52 Total receipts 100,665 84 Do. payments Do. balance 4,236,297 23 The receipts to-day include $56,000 from customs The returns of the banks of this city for the week ending Dec. 12, compared with those of the previous week, show the following variations in the aggregates:-$192,350 Increase in loans and discounts 10,955 Decrease in specie 206,506 Decrease in circulation 1,536,375 Decrease in deposits, actual The decrease in deposits to some extent is rather an unexpected movement. The resumption of specie payments may have made some changes in the internal arrangements, and deposits which have heretofore been included in the general account may now come under the head of special. In the other departments there has been no change of consequence. The resumption of specie payments by the banks of this and other cities of the Union is an event of the most vital importance to the financial world at large. The first point for consideration among all classes is the policy to be pursued to secure the permanency of the new movement. The banks start well fortified with specie. Those of this city have upwards of twenty-six millions of gold in their vaults, with a very contracted line of discounts. The basis is therefore sound and strong, and it is only necessary to preserve this health and strength to bring about a position of financial affairs and a system of credits superior to anything known for years. It is only about sixty days since the banks of this city suspended specie payments. The causes which led to that movement indirectly were numerous, but the direct or rather the immediate cause was the combination among our Anglo-American banking houses and a class of depositors who became panic struck for a run for specie and the withdrawal of several millions of bullion in the space of a few hours. This was the direct cause, at the time when the public mind was ripe for such influences. The failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company inaugurated the revulsion and bastened the collapse. It was represented to the largest of our city banks that the Trust Company was in want of funds, and that if not helped it would suspend. This information was unheeded, and that concern was allowed to go down. The previous high standing of that company and the suddenness of the failure seriously disturbed public confidence, and from that moment the revulsion became inevitable. Had our banks helped along the Trust Company the collapse would only have been postponed, and it was about as well that it was suffered to suspend. In 1837 the failure of the Messrs. Joseph Was the entering wedge to the revulsion of that year. Upon the eve of every financial explosion some decided movement is necessary to open the ball and commence the panio. Nearly all the large failures that have followed the Ohio Life and Trust Company are supposed to be