About The Oldest Mint In America
The birthplace of American currency
A mint is a government-authorized facility (or the organization running it) that manufactures coins to be used as official currency (legal tender) in a country.
The oldest mint in America is the Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, established in 1792. United States Mint defines it as the first national mint in the United States. US Precious Metals describes it as our country’s first Mint. The Philadelphia Visitor Center acknowledges it as the first U.S. Mint.
Before 1792, American commerce had relied on state-minted coins, foreign currencies like the Spanish dollar, and most of all, the barter system. Though the need for a federally regulated currency was recognized as early as 1777, debate had raged for years over what form that currency should take.
President George Washington appointed a leading scientist, David Rittenhouse, as the first director. Rittenhouse bought two lots at 7th and Arch Streets to build a three-story facility, the tallest building in Philadelphia at the time.
The Coinage Act of 1792 entered into law on April 2, proclaiming the creation of the United States Mint. Philadelphia at that time was the nation's capital, and the first mint facility was built there. Notably, it was the first federal building erected under the Constitution.
The site was formerly an abandoned whiskey distillery that Rittenhouse demolished in July 1792. A few months later, the smelt house had a companion next door: a three-story building with basement vaults, deposit and weighing rooms, a press room, mint official offices, and an assay office. A third building was later added as a mill house where horses in the basement powered the first-floor mill.
In March 1793, the Mint delivered its first circulating coins: 11,178 copper cents. The first official coins — silver dimes — were minted one year after the Coinage Act was passed. They were struck from Martha Washington's own silverware.
The first mint produced copper half-cent and one-cent pieces, silver half-dimes, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and dollars, as well as gold two-and-a-half-dollar, five-dollar, and ten-dollar coins. However, because it was dependent upon the power of men and horses, the production of the nation's first coins was slow and laborious.
In 1795, the Mint became the first federal agency to employ women: Sarah Waldrake and Rachael Summers were hired as adjusters — responsible for weighing blank coins and filing down those that were too heavy. This was a remarkable milestone at a time when women held almost no formal government roles.
In 1849, the California Gold Rush brought a flood of people west. Transporting the gold east all the way to the Philadelphia Mint was time-consuming and risky, so in 1854 a branch Mint opened in San Francisco.
The Philadelphia Mint can produce up to one million coins in 30 minutes. It also produces medals and awards for military, governmental, and civil services. Engraving of all dies and strikers only occurs here.
Philadelphia produces coin and medal dies, mints circulating coins and medals, numismatic products including annual uncirculated coin sets, and commemorative coins as authorized by Congress. It also employs the elite team of medallic artists entrusted with creating designs and sculptural models for all the nation's coins and medals.
Much like the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the Mint is a quiet giant — the birthplace of American currency, still hard at work more than 230 years later, and open to the public for tours through its storied halls.