View source for San Francisco Mint

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = United States Mint (San Francisco)
| image = NRIS 88000026 Mint Building - Duboce St Elevation.jpg
| image_size = 325px
| caption = The San Francisco Mint building, built in 1937
| location = Hermann and Buchanan Streets, [[San Francisco, California]]
| coordinates = {{Coord|37.7701|N|122.4273|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = United States San Francisco County#California#USA
| built = 1937
| architect = [[Gilbert Stanley Underwood]]
| architecture = [[Stripped Classicism]]
| added = February 18, 1988
| refnum = 88000026
}}

The '''San Francisco Mint''' is a [[branch mint|branch]] of the [[United States Mint]]. Opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the [[California Gold Rush]], in twenty years its operations exceeded the capacity of the first building. It moved into a new one in 1874, now known as the [[Old San Francisco Mint]]. In 1937 Mint operations moved into a third building, the current one, completed that year.

==History==

=== Original United States Mint and Subtreasury (1854) ===
[[File:First San Francisco Mint building (taken on 27Aug2012 13hrs48mins14secs).jpg|thumb|Original United States Mint and Subtreasury (1854) image from 2012|left]]
The San Francisco Mint began operations in 1854 at 608 Commercial Street, just west of Montgomery Street.{{sfn|Yeoman|2014|p=17}} The building sat between Commercial and Clay Streets and a [[California Historical Landmark]] (number 87) plaque can be found today on Commercial. Since June&nbsp;14, 1970, the building has been listed as a [[List of San Francisco Designated Landmarks|San Francisco Designated Landmark]].

The mint was established in response to the [[California gold rush]].{{sfn|Yeoman|2014|p=17}} Within the first year of its operation, the San Francisco mint turned $4&nbsp;million in [[gold bullion]] into coins.<ref name=Castleman>{{cite magazine |first=Michael |last=Castleman |title=Grace Under fire |magazine=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |date=April 2006 |page=56 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/grace-under-fire-114073500/}}</ref> Because of the scale of its increase in operations due to economic growth, a new building was soon required.

Construction of the new location approximately 1 mile away began in 1869 at Fifth Street and Mission Street. The mint operations moved to that building in 1874.

[[File:1856-S eagle reverse.jpg|thumb|An 1856 [[Eagle (United States coin)|Liberty Head Eagle]] ($10); the "S" mintmark indicates it was struck in San Francisco Mint.]]

=== Old San Francisco Mint (1874) ===
{{main|Old San Francisco Mint}}
[[File:2017 Old San Francisco Mint Building.jpg|thumb|The [[Old San Francisco Mint]], {{circa|2017}}.|left]]
The second US Mint building here, completed in 1874 for the Department of the Treasury, was designed by [[Alfred B. Mullett]] in a conservative [[Greek Revival]] style with a sober [[Doric order]]. The columns, most of the exterior and upper floors were constructed of sandstone. It was quarried at [[Newcastle Island]], [[British Columbia]], near the city of [[Nanaimo]] and imported for this purpose.

The building had a central [[pediment]]ed [[portico]] flanked by projecting wings in an E-shape; it was built around a completely enclosed central courtyard that contained a well. These features saved it during the fires that followed the [[San Francisco Earthquake]] of 1906, when the heat melted the plate glass windows and exploded sandstone and granite blocks with which it was faced. The building is based on a concrete and granite foundation, designed to thwart tunneling into its vaults. At the time of the 1906 earthquake, the Mint held $300&nbsp;million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=300000000|start_year=1906}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}), fully a third of the United States' gold reserves. Efforts by Superintendent of the Mint, [[Frank A. Leach]], and his men preserved the building and the bullion that backed the nation's currency.<ref name=Castleman /> The mint resumed operation soon thereafter, continuing until 1937 at this site.

Now known as the [[Old San Francisco Mint]], it was designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1961 and sold to the city of San Francisco in 2003. There are plans for adaptive reuse, including as a museum, and continued special events space.

=== Current building ===
The new Mint was opened in 1937. Beginning in 1955, circulating coinage from [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]] was suspended for 13 years. In 1968, this facility took over most [[proof coinage]] production from the [[Philadelphia Mint]], but continued striking a supplemental circulating coinage from 1968 through 1974.

Since 1975, the San Francisco Mint has been used almost exclusively for proof coinage, with the exception of the [[Susan B. Anthony dollar]] from 1979–81, a portion of the mintage of [[Lincoln cent|cents]] in the early 1980s, and circulation-strike [[America the Beautiful Quarters|America the Beautiful quarters]] marked with an "S" mintmark and issued only for collectors since 2012. The dollars and quarters bear a [[mintmark]] of an "S", but the cents are otherwise indistinguishable from those minted at Philadelphia (which bear no mintmarks, unlike those years' proof cents from San Francisco and circulation cents from [[Denver Mint|Denver]]).

From 1962 to 1988, the San Francisco Mint was officially an assay office; the San Francisco Assay Office was granted mint status again on March 31, 1988 ({{USPL|100|274}}).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usmint.gov/historianscorner/?flash=yes&action=timeline&century=1900 |title=Timeline of the United States Mint |publisher=United States Mint |access-date=April 20, 2010 |archive-date=June 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605234959/http://www.usmint.gov/historianscorner/?flash=yes&action=timeline&century=1900 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The San Francisco Mint is located at 155 Hermann Street. It admits visitors only as a rare exception. On May&nbsp;15, 1987, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Mint, a limited number of people were allowed to tour the facility. This tour was advertised in the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' newspaper, with reservations required.{{clear left}}

==See also==
*{{Portal-inline|San Francisco Bay Area}}
*{{portal-inline|Numismatics}}
* [[List of mints]]
* [[Historical United States mints]]
* [[Charlotte Mint]]
* [[Dahlonega Mint]]
* [[Denver Mint]]
* [[New Orleans Mint]]
* [[Philadelphia Mint]]
* [[List of San Francisco Designated Landmarks]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{Yeoman-2014}} {{sfn whitelist|CITEREFYeoman2014}}

==External links==
{{commonscat|San Francisco Mint}}
*[https://www.usmint.gov/about/mint-tours-facilities/san-francisco Official San Francisco Mint website]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050909021516/http://www.treas.gov/offices/management/curator/exhibitions/mintbldgs/sanfrancisco.shtml "US Mint Buildings Across the Nation: San Francisco Mint"], [[US Treasury Department]] website, 2007.
*[http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist3/sfmint.html "New San Francisco Mint" article (1936)]
*[https://archive.today/20080820035044/http://www.coinlink.com/Articles/featured/the-second-us-mint-at-san-francisco-part-one/ "The Second US Mint at San Francisco: Part One" Article]
*[http://www.gsa.gov/portal/ext/html/site/hb/category/25431/actionParameter/exploreByBuilding/buildingId/388 General Services Administration page on the Old Mint, San Francisco] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118151102/http://www.gsa.gov/portal/ext/html/site/hb/category/25431/actionParameter/exploreByBuilding/buildingId/388 |date=2016-11-18 }}

{{South of Market, San Francisco}}
{{Western Addition, San Francisco}}
{{US currency and coinage}}
{{San Francisco Attractions}}
{{Registered Historic Places}}

[[Category:United States Mint]]
[[Category:Mints of the United States]]
[[Category:Government buildings in San Francisco]]
[[Category:California Gold Rush]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1854]]
[[Category:Manufacturing plants in the United States]]
[[Category:South of Market, San Francisco]]
[[Category:Western Addition, San Francisco]]
[[Category:Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco]]
[[Category:San Francisco Designated Landmarks]]
[[Category:1874 in California]]
[[Category:Government buildings completed in 1874]]
[[Category:1870s architecture in the United States]]
[[Category:Neoclassical architecture in California]]
[[Category:1937 in California]]
[[Category:Government buildings completed in 1937]]
[[Category:1930s architecture in the United States]]
[[Category:Moderne architecture in California]]
[[Category:Stripped Classical architecture in the United States]]
[[Category:1854 establishments in California]]