The closing of Bank of United States came as a shock to the banking industry, which had not seen a failure of a large New York bank since the stock market crash of 1929, and the first failure of such magnitude since the failure of the Knickerbocker Trust Company in 1907. Worried city and state officials tried to reassure the public by rushing through the program by which Bank of United States depositors could borrow money against their deposits. Some depositors started to receive their loans on 23 December 1930 and "The New York Times" reported that throngs of depositors lined up to receive their loans, many arriving hours before the branches opened and many were turned away because they could not be served by the end of the day.