Carson City rededicates U.S. Mint cornerstone in sesquicentennial ceremony
Submitted by Brett Fisher on Sat, 09/24/2016 - 1:47pm
A crowd gathered in the courtyard fronting North Carson Street and the Dema Guinn wing of the Nevada State Museum Saturday afternoon in a rededication ceremony marking 150 years since the first stone was laid erecting the historic U.S. Mint building.
The ceremony's location was the same spot where guests honored placement of the mint's cornerstone on Sept. 24, 1866.
The Free and Accepted Masons, a fraternal order that laid the stones for the building 150 years ago, conducted Saturday's ceremony in the same or similar fashion as was done by the organization back in 1866.
According to the National Parks Service (NPS), groundbreaking for the building took place on July 18, 1866, three years after Congress had approved the project.
Construction was delayed for three years because of the American Civil War, the NPS said.
Abraham Curry, one of Carson City's founders, served as superintendent of construction for the U.S. Mint building, which opened in December 1869.
The Carson City U.S. Mint produced federal currency for 23 years, beginning in 1870 and until 1893, the NPS said. More than $49 million in gold and silver were coined at the facility in that time.
By 1899, though, the federal government had formally withdrawn the Carson City Mint's status as a federal currency producer.
The Carson City Mint building was later remodeled and reopened in 1941 as the home of the Nevada State Museum. Mint Press No. 1 still resides at the museum and remains in operation for demonstrations and special minting projects.
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