Coxey's Army

(Wikipedia) Coxey's Army was a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by the populist Jacob Coxey. They marched on Washington D.C. in 1894, the second year of a four-year economic depression that was the worst in United States history to that time. Officially named the Commonweal in Christ, its nickname came from its leader and was more enduring. It was the first significant popular protest march on Washington and the expression "Enough food to feed Coxey's Army" originates from this march. Continued

Emergency Banking Act

(Wikipedia) The Emergency Banking Act (the official title of which was the Emergency Banking Relief Act) was an act of the United States Congress spearheaded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. It was passed on March 9, 1933. The act allowed a plan that would close down insolvent banks and reorganize and reopen those banks strong enough to survive. In summary, the provisions of the act were as follows: Continued

Dollar Princesses: The American heiresses who inspired Downton Abbey

 

(thedailybeast) ... Yet these American girls paid a price for their strawberry leaves and coronets. Most had grown up in modern homes with every modern convenience: electric light, indoor plumbing, and central heating. After marriage, they found themselves chatelaines of houses where taking a bath involved a housemaid making five trips from the kitchen in the basement, carrying jugs of hot water to fill a hip bath. The stately homes of England were all too often dark, dingy, and terribly cold. Cornelia Martin, who married the Earl of 
Craven, complained to her mother, “The house is so cold that the only time I take my furs off is when I go to bed.” 
Mildred Sherman from Ohio, who became Lady Camoys, gave up going to dinner at country houses in the winter because she couldn’t face the cold in evening dress. Continued

Stock Market Crash of 1929

(Wikipedia) The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash or the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout.
Four phrases—Black Thursday, Black Friday, then Black Monday, and Black Tuesday—are commonly used to describe this collapse of stock values. All four are appropriate, for the crash was not a one-day affair. The initial crash occurred on Thursday, October 24, 1929, but the catastrophic downturn of Monday, October 28 and Tuesday, October 29 precipitated widespread alarm and the onset of an unprecedented and long-lasting economic depression for the United States and the world. This stock market collapse continued for a month. Continued

Photo: Wall Street bubbles; - Always the same / J. Ottmann Lith. Co. ; Kep, 1901. Caricature of John Pierpont Morgan as a bull blowing bubbles "inflated values", for which group of people are reaching. (Library of Congress)

The Panic of 1907

(Wikipedia) The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when its stock market fell close to 50 percent from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred during a time of economic recession, when there were numerous runs on banks and trust companies. The 1907 panic eventually spread throughout the nation, and many state and local banks and businesses entered into bankruptcy. Primary causes of the run included a retraction of market liquidity by a number of New York City banks, a loss of confidence among depositors, and the absence of a statutory lender of last resort. Continued

Photo: "A crowd forms on Wall Street during the Bankers Panic of 1907" (New York Public Library).

Penn Central Goes Belly Up

(Wikipedia) ... The American financial system was shocked when after only two years of operations, the Penn Central Transportation Company was put into bankruptcy on June 21, 1970. It was the largest corporate bankruptcy in American history at that time. Although the Penn Central Transportation Company was put into bankruptcy, its parent Penn Central Company was able to survive. The PC's bankruptcy was the final blow to long-haul private-sector passenger train service in the United States. The troubled company filed proposals with the ICC to abandon most of its remaining passenger rail service, causing a chain reaction among its fellow railroads. In 1971, Congress created Amtrak, a government corporation, which began to operate a skeleton passenger service on the tracks of PC and other U.S. railroads.
The PC continued to operate freight service under bankruptcy court protection. After private-sector reorganization efforts failed, Congress nationalized the Penn Central under the terms of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976. The new law folded six northeastern railroads, the Penn Central and five smaller, failed lines, into the Consolidated Rail Corporation, commonly known as Conrail. Continued 

The lowest point

(LoC) On July 8, 1932, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to its lowest point during the Great Depression.
This event was symptomatic of a decade of economic uncertainty that was precipitated by the crash in the fall of 1929, when U.S. stock prices declined dramatically. The resulting panic devastated the fortunes of many investors and caused major declines in consumption, industrial production, and employment, which in turn affected the U.S. and world economy for the next ten years. Continued

Martin Baum

Martin Baum (15 June 1765 in Hagerstown, Maryland – 14 December 1831 in Cincinnati, Ohio) was an American businessman and politician.
The son of German immigrants Jacob Baum and Magdalena Elizabeth Kershner, Baum fought with General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
After settling in Cincinnati, Baum became active in civic affairs, and was elected mayor in 1807 and 1812. Through his agents in Baltimore, New Orleans and Philadelphia, Baum attracted a great number of German immigrants to work in his various enterprises — steamboats, a sugar refinery, a foundry and real estate. Baum founded the Western Museum, was active in the first public library 1802, and was one of the main pillars of the First Presbyterian Church. He married Anna Somerville Wallace in 1804. Continued

Coxey's Army

(Wikipedia) Coxey's Army was a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by the populist Jacob Coxey. They marched on Washington D.C. in 1894, the second year of a four-year economic depression that was the worst in United States history to that time. Officially named the Commonweal in Christ, its nickname came from its leader and was more enduring. It was the first significant popular protest march on Washington and the expression "Enough food to feed Coxey's Army" originates from this march. Continued

Moneymakers: The Wicked Lives and Surprising Adventures of Three Notorious Counterfeiters

(NYTBR) ... what elevates “Moneymakers” from the novelty shelf is Tarnoff’s skillful interweaving of the counterfeiter’s work and America’s revolving enchantment with and disavowal of paper money. Alongside tales of jailbreaks and executions, he examines the nation’s changing relationship to federalism and the democratization of the means of exchange. For example, David Lewis would cheat the poor but was said to often refund their losses after a successful day of bilking the rich. This dramatic sensibility converged with the emerging Jacksonian populism, and its attendant dissatisfaction with a centralized banking authority, to fashion the counterfeiter as an American Robin Hood. Continued

1835: The United States national debt is 0 for the only time

(Wikipedia) The United States has had public debt since its inception. Debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation led to the first yearly reported value of $75,463,476.52 on January 1, 1791. Over the following 45 years, the debt grew, briefly contracted to zero on January 8, 1835 under President Andrew Jackson, but then quickly grew into the millions again. Continued

The South Sea Bubble

"I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men." - Sir Isaac Newton

(Wikipedia) The South Sea Company was a British joint stock company that traded in South America during the 18th century. Founded in 1711, the company was granted a monopoly to trade in Spain's South American colonies as part of a treaty during the War of Spanish Succession. The primary element of trade was slaves (Asiento). In return, the company assumed the national debt England had incurred during the war. Speculation in the company's stock led to a great economic bubble known as the South Sea Bubble in 1720, which caused financial ruin for many. Continued

How Economic Brawn Transformed a Nation

(NYTBR) It has often been noted that while the American union was established by the Revolution, the American nation was forged only upon the awful anvil of the Civil War. Far less noted, however, is that this nation’s extraordinary power and influence in the 20th century and beyond has been largely a product of the remarkable 35 years that followed the Civil War.
In those decades the American economy exploded in size, becoming by far the largest, most productive and most technically advanced in the world. In 1860 the United States had imported almost all its steel — the product that was increasingly the measure of economic power at that time — from Britain. By 1900 it was producing more steel than Britain and Germany combined and exporting it profitably to both those countries.
H. W. Brands tells this story of extraordinary economic transformation in his new book, “American Colossus.” Continued

Historic Yorktowne Hotel owners surprised by filing

(YDR) The owners of the Yorktowne Hotel had been attempting to amend the terms of its loan with PNC Bank when they received a surprise.
On Friday, the bank filed a complaint with the York County Court of Common Pleas that York Hotel Group had defaulted on its loan and owes $5.26 million, which includes the principal, interest, attorneys' fees and late fees.
The bank has scheduled that the historic hotel be sold at sheriff's sale at 2 p.m. Feb. 7. Continued

Image of Yorketowne Hotel by Nightening

Panic of 1907

(Wikipedia) The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when its stock market fell close to 50 percent from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred during a time of economic recession, when there were numerous runs on banks and trust companies. The 1907 panic eventually spread throughout the nation, and many state and local banks and businesses entered into bankruptcy. Primary causes of the run included a retraction of market liquidity by a number of New York City banks, a loss of confidence among depositors, and the absence of a statutory lender of last resort. Continued

Photo: "A crowd forms on Wall Street during the Bankers Panic of 1907" (New York Public Library).

The Legend of Coal Oil Johnny, America's Great Forgotten Parable

(the Atlantic) Surely you've heard of Coal Oil Johnny, right?
Before J.R. Ewing, or the Beverly Hillbillies, or even John D. Rockefeller, there was Coal Oil Johnny. He was the first great cautionary tale of the oil age -- and his name would resound in popular culture for more than half a century after he made and lost his fortune in the 1860s.
A penniless orphan growing up, it was said Coal Oil Johnny once spent $100,000 in a day. Continued

Lewes shipwreck site a window into 1770s economy

(Delaware Online) The wine: imported from South Africa; the porcelain from China, the bottled water from Germany. More evidence of a global economy?
You bet, said historian and archaeologist Charles Fithian.
But we're not talking 21st century, here. Continued

Image: Groot Constantia

First World War officially ends on Sunday

(Yahoo! News) The First World War will officially end on Sunday when Germany pays off the last of the enormous debt which was set by the Allies 92 years ago. Continued

The Panic of 1857

(LoC) The major financial catalyst for the panic of 1857 was the August 24, 1857, failure of the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company. It was soon reported that the entire capital of the Trust's home office had been embezzled. What followed was one of the most severe economic crises in U.S. history.

Almost immediately, New York bankers put severe restrictions on even the most routine transactions. In turn, many people interpreted these restrictions as a sign of impending financial collapse and panicked. Individual holders of stock and of commercial paper rushed to their brokers and eagerly made deals that "a week before they would have shunned as a ruinous sacrifice." As the September 12, 1857, Harper's Weekly described the scene on the New York Stock Exchange, "…prominent stocks fell eight or ten per cent in a day, and fortunes were made and lost between ten o'clock in the morning and four of the afternoon."

The Report of the Clearinghouse Committee, produced in the years following the panic of 1857, found that "A financial panic has been likened to a malignant epidemic, which kills more by terror than by real disease." Yet behind the reaction of New York's bankers to the closing of a trust company lay a confluence of national and international events that heightened concern:

• the British withdrew capital from U.S. banks;
• grain prices fell;
• Russia undersold U.S. cotton on the open market;
• manufactured goods lay in surplus;
• railroads overbuilt and some defaulted on debts;
• land schemes and projects, dependent on new rail routes, failed.

To compound the problem, the SS Central America, a wooden-hulled steamship transporting millions of dollars in gold from the new San Francisco Mint to create a reserve for eastern banks, was caught in a hurricane and sunk in mid-September. (The vessel had aboard 581 persons—many carrying great personal wealth—and more than $1 million in commercial gold. She also bore a secret shipment of 15 tons of federal gold, valued at $20 per ounce, intended for the eastern banks.) Continued

1997: The F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years

(Wikipedia) The F.W. Woolworth Co. was among the first five-and-dime stores, which sold discounted general merchandise at fixed prices, usually five or ten cents, undercutting the prices of other local merchants. Woolworth, as the stores popularly became known, was one of the first American retailers to put merchandise out for the shopping public to handle and select without the assistance of a sales clerk. Earlier retailers had kept all merchandise behind a counter, and customers presented the clerk with a list of items they wished to buy. After working in a dry goods store in Watertown, New York, Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his first Woolworth’s store in Utica, New York, in 1878, but the store failed within a year. However, a second store he opened on June 21, 1879 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, became a success. Continued

Image: Washington, D.C. Christmas shopping in Woolworth's five and ten cent store, 1941. (John Collier/FSA/OWI/Library of Congress)