Jay Cooke & Company
U.S. bank from 1861 to 1873 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works.
Jay Cooke & Company was a U.S. bank that operated from 1861 to 1873. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with branches in New York City and Washington, D.C.,[1] the bank helped underwrite the Union Civil War effort. It was the first "wire" brokerage house, pioneering the use of telegraph messages to confirm securities transactions with clients.[2] The bank became overextended in the building of the Northern Pacific Railway and failed, contributing to the Panic of 1873.