31/10/2024
In January 1910, Jekyll Island, Georgia, became the site of a secret meeting where some of the country's most powerful bankers and government officials gathered to plan what would later become the Federal Reserve System. Attendees included representatives from banks like J.P. Morgan, National City Bank of New York (now Citibank), and Kuhn, Loeb & Co. They met under the guise of a hunting trip at the exclusive Jekyll Island Club to discuss a central banking system that could stabilize the economy and prevent financial panics like the one that had occurred in 1907.
The group devised a plan, which eventually formed the basis of the Aldrich Plan and, later, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, establishing a central banking system in the U.S. While initially kept secret to avoid public backlash, this meeting on Jekyll Island was a pivotal moment in U.S. economic history, shaping the structure and policies of what would become the Federal Reserve.