Greetings!  

How many people are familiar with "The Great Depressionof 1893?" How many are even aware there was such a thing? Well, there was, and it was arguably one of the worst, if not the worst, in American history. It was a major economic contraction that lasted until 1897, albeit theeconomy did experience a sizeable spike from mid-1894 through the end of 1895.

Unemployment was above 10 percent nationally and as high as 25 percent in many industrial centers. A quarter of the nation's railroads went bankrupt, and more than 15,000 companies and 500 banks failed. There was tremendous agricultural distress due to the plummeting prices of export crops, and labor strife was rife.