19076. Jay Cooke & Company (Philadelphia, PA)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Suspension → Closure
Bank Type
private
Start Date
September 1, 1873*
Location
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (39.952, -75.164)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
81539828

Response Measures

None

Description

Articles (dated 1890) describe the receivers of Jay Cooke & Co. paying the last dividend and closing the trust, indicating the firm had been in receivership and permanently closed. No contemporaneous run is described in the provided snippets; the failure resulted from the firm's overexposure to Northern Pacific railroad financing (bank-specific adverse information). I supply an approximate historical suspension/receivership date (1873) because the articles refer to the earlier failure but do not give the original failure date explicitly.

Events (2)
1. September 1, 1873* Receivership
Newspaper Excerpt
The receivers of the banking firm of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia, have just announced their readiness to pay the last dividend to the creditors of that house, and thus at the same time close the trust they have managed and ring down the curtain on the last act of one of the most interesting dramas produced by the development of the material resources of this country. The building of the Northern Pacific railroad was one of the most stupendous of the many large undertakings in the era of great achievements. ... A crisis in the affairs of the great company administered at different times by these men brought each of them face to face with personal ruin, and on each occasion the disturbance to credits and ... The receivers of the banking firm of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia, have just announced their readiness to pay the last dividend to the creditors of that house, and thus at the same time close the trust they have managed and ring down the curtain on the last act of one of the most interesting dramas produced by the development of the material resources of this country. The building of the Northern Pacific railroad was one of the most stupendous ... The receivers of the banking firm of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia, have just announced their readiness to pay the last dividend to the creditors of that house, and thus at the same time close the trust they have managed and ring
Source
newspapers
2. September 1, 1873* Suspension
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Insolvency caused by overexposure to Northern Pacific railroad financing leading to failure and appointment of receivers.
Newspaper Excerpt
The receivers of the banking firm of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia, have just announced their readiness to pay the last dividend to the creditors of that house, and thus at the same time close the trust they have managed
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (2)
1. July 5, 1890 Lancaster Daily Intelligencer Lancaster, PA
Article from Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, July 5, 1890

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Article Text

A RAILROAD ROMANCE. RISE, FALL AND FINAL TRIUMPHS OF JAY COOKE AND HENRY VILLARD. The Former Began the Construction of the Northern Pacific Line, and the Latter Brought the Project to Completion. Homes of the Two Men. [Copyright by American Press Association.] The receivers of the banking firm of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia, have just announced their readiness to pay the last dividend to the creditors of that house, and thus at the same time close the trust they have managed and ring

2. July 20, 1890 St. Paul Daily Globe Saint Paul, MN
Article from St. Paul Daily Globe, July 20, 1890

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Article Text

Rise, Fall and Rise of Jay Cooke and Henry Villard. The First Began the Building of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The Other Made the Great Road an Assured Success. Sketches of Their Busy Lives and Their Magnificent Homes. The receivers of the banking firm of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia, have just announced their readiness to pay the last dividend to the creditors of that house, and thus at the same time close the trust they have managed and ring down the curtain on the last act of one of the most interesting dramas produced by the development of the material resources of this country. The building of the Northern Pacific railwas one of the most stupendous of the many large undertakings in the era of great achievements. It took an excessive amount of faith and courage to believe in the undertaking, and the even moderately conservative people in the financial world were inclined to look upon those who were firm believers as chimerically sanguine in their anticipations and foolhardy in their hopefal courage. In the history of the building of this great road, the completion of which has already given several states to the Union, there are two men whose names will always be more prominent than any others-Jay Cooke and Henry Villard, One of these began the construction of the road and the other finished it. A crisis in the affairs of the great company administered at different times by these men brought each of them face to face with personal ruin. and on each occasion the disturbance to credits and