7573. Banks in New Orleans (New Orleans, LA)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type
state
Start Date
October 31, 1839
Location
New Orleans, Louisiana (29.955, -90.075)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
7e574aee

Response Measures

None

Description

Newspaper reports (Oct 1839) state that the banks in New Orleans suspended specie payments as part of a wider suspension following New York and Philadelphia banks. The articles refer collectively to multiple banks rather than a single named institution, so bank_name is imprecise. There is no article text here confirming permanent failure or receivership; historical context suggests these were suspensions during the 1839 panic and later resumptions, but reopening is not explicitly reported in the provided excerpts. I selected suspension_reopening as the best-fitting category given lack of evidence of permanent closure.

Events (1)
1. October 31, 1839 Suspension
Cause
Macro News
Cause Details
Suspension followed news that banks in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore had suspended specie payments; part of a wider systemic suspension/contagion in October 1839.
Newspaper Excerpt
SUSPENSION.-The Banks in New Orleans, we learn, have suspended specie payments.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (2)
1. October 19, 1839 True American New Orleans, LA
Article from True American, October 19, 1839

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Article Text

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1839. The Northern Mail, which arrived yesterday, brought UA no papers from New York. Private letters received state that the Banks iii Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York had euspended specie payments. This news created SC me sensation in our city; brokers were seen running from bank to bank, changing their notes for hard money. and it is generally thought that our banks will follow the example of the New York and Philadelphia banks. We don't know that a suspension will be of great The injury to the mass of business men in our city. big fish will be forced to poney up, and a little more liberality will be shown to the honest merchant and small trader.

2. October 31, 1839 Lynchburg Virginian Lynchburg, VA
Article from Lynchburg Virginian, October 31, 1839

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Article Text

SUSPENSION.-The Banks in New Orleans, we learn, have suspended specie payments. In Ohio, the suspension is HOO universal : the Dayton, Zanesville and Urbana banks, and the Clinton and Franklin banks of Columbus continue to pay specie. The Indiana banks likewise pay specie. The Savannah banks and two of the Charleston banks, decline suspending. In Nashville, the Union bank and the Planters' bank have suspended; the Bank of Tennessee continues to pay specie, and says it intends to do so unless otherwise re. commended by legislative authority.