SEPTEMBER 20
MONDAY
THIS DAY I IN HISTORY
1873: Panic closes NYSE
On this day in 1873, the New York Stock Exchange closed for ten days. The closure was enacted two days after one of the nation's most prominent brokerage firms, Jones Cooke & Co., declared bankruptcy. The Panic of 1873, as it was called, wreaked havoc on the economy, and the NYSE decided to close to wait out the crisis. In response, the secretary of the treasury pumped $26 million of new currency into the economy, which increased the amount of money in circulation to $382 million.