San Francisco Mint's History from the Gold Rush to 1937

The San Francisco Mint, located on Hermann Street, traces its history back to the California gold rush. The mint began operations in 1854 at 608 Commercial Street, just west of Montgomery Street. Within its first year of operation, the mint turned $4 million in gold bullion into coins. Due to the scale of increased operations from economic growth, a new building was soon required.

In 1869, construction began on a new location approximately one mile away at Fifth Street and Mission Street. Mint operations moved to this second building in 1874. Designed by Alfred B. Mullett in a conservative Greek Revival style with a sober Doric order, the building featured columns and most of its exterior and upper floors constructed of sandstone imported from Newcastle Island, British Columbia. The building featured a central pedimented portico with projecting wings in an E-shape and an enclosed central courtyard containing a well.

These features helped the building survive the fires following the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, which melted plate glass windows and exploded sandstone and granite blocks. At the time of the earthquake, the Mint held $300 million, representing a third of the United States' gold reserves. Efforts by Superintendent Frank A. Leach and his men preserved the building and the bullion. The mint continued operations at this site until 1937.

The current San Francisco Mint building was dedicated on May 15, 1937, at 155 Hermann Street. Prior to the opening, a store of $595,000,000 in gold and silver bullion was transferred from the old facility to the new one in post office vans under heavy guard by police and the Secret Service. Today, the facility continues to mint clad and silver proof coin sets and congressionally authorized commemorative coins. The San Francisco Mint does not allow visitors.

While the production of circulating coinage from San Francisco was suspended for 13 years beginning in 1955, the facility remains a key part of the nation's minting history. The mint's legacy is marked by its survival through major disasters and its role in processing the vast quantities of gold that fueled the growth of the West Coast during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons