Dahlonega Mint facts for kids
The Dahlonega Mint was a special place where gold coins were made a long time ago. It was a branch of the United States Mint, which is like the main factory for making money in the USA. This mint was built in Dahlonega, Georgia, during the Georgia Gold Rush. Its main job was to help gold miners. They could bring their gold here to be checked for purity (this is called assayed) and then turned into coins. This saved them a long trip to the main mint in Philadelphia.
The Dahlonega Mint was located in Lumpkin County, Georgia. All the coins made there have a special "D" mark on them. Today, the "D" mark is used by the Denver Mint, which opened much later. The Dahlonega Mint only made gold coins. These coins came in different values: $1, $2.50, $3, and $5. They were made between the years 1838 and 1861.
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Why the Dahlonega Mint Was Built
The idea for the Dahlonega Mint came from the United States Congress. On March 3, 1835, they passed a law called the Mint Act of 1835. This law decided to open three new mints. One would be in New Orleans for gold and silver coins. Another would be in Charlotte for gold coins only. And the third, also for gold coins only, would be in or near Dahlonega, Georgia.
Building the Mint
A person named Ignatius Alphonso Few was put in charge of setting up the Dahlonega Mint. In August 1835, he bought ten acres of land south of Dahlonega. He then hired an architect named Benjamin Towns to build the mint. The construction was planned to take about eighteen months.
By 1837, all the special machines needed to make coins were installed. These machines included presses for cutting metal, a large flywheel, and a coining press. The coining press was very fast. It could make "fifty to sixty gold coins per minute"!
First Coins Made
Dr. Joseph Singleton was the first person in charge, called the Superintendent, of the Dahlonega Mint. He opened the mint in February 1838. In just the first week, about a thousand ounces of gold were brought in by miners. The very first coins were made on April 17. They were eighty five-dollar gold pieces.
What Coins Were Made
The Dahlonega Mint made coins every year from 1838 until 1861. They produced several types of gold coins:
- $1.00 gold coins
- $2.50 gold coins (also known as quarter eagles)
- $3.00 gold coins (these were only made in 1854)
- $5.00 gold coins (also known as half eagles)
The Civil War and the Mint
When the American Civil War began in 1861, the Dahlonega Mint was taken over by the Confederate States of America. It is believed that after the Confederates took control, they continued to make some gold dollars and half eagles. We don't know the exact number of $1 gold coins made in 1861 by the Confederates. However, about 1,597 of the $5 gold coins were made that year.
Because not many coins were made at the Dahlonega Mint, especially during the Civil War, all gold coins from this mint are quite rare today. It's thought that the mint produced over $6 million worth of gold coins in its lifetime.
After the Civil War
After the Civil War ended, the United States Government decided not to reopen the Dahlonega Mint. The building sat empty for some years. Then, in 1873, a new school called North Georgia College was started. The old mint building became the main building for the college. It was used for classes and offices.
Sadly, in December 1878, a fire destroyed the original mint building. But the college didn't give up! A new building was built right on the foundations of the old mint. This new building is now called Price Memorial Hall. It's named after William P. Price, who founded the college. Price Memorial Hall is still used by the college today.
You might be interested to know that the gold covering the dome of the Georgia State Capitol building in Atlanta comes from this area. People in Georgia sometimes talk about what's happening "under the gold dome" when they mean what the state government is doing. After the capitol building got its gold dome, people in Dahlonega started a campaign to put gold leaf on Price Memorial Hall too, just like the capitol.
