The United States Mint in New Orleans

The US Mint building, located at 400 Esplanade Avenue, was designed by architect William Strickland, who had apprenticed with Benjamin Latrobe and designed US Mint buildings in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Dahlonega, Georgia. Built upon the original site of Fort St. Charles at the foot of what became Esplanade Avenue, the New Orleans Mint began operations on March 8, 1838. In the twenty-three years prior to the Civil War, the mint produced a variety of gold and silver coins, including the examples displayed in this section, stamped with local mint mark “O.”

When Louisiana seceded from the Union in January 1861, the state seized the mint and its remaining bullion, continuing production of US coins until the Confederate States of America (CSA) took control of operations in April of the same year. Only four proof coins of Confederate currency from New Orleans survive. CSA minting activities ceased before they ever truly started, however. Within a month of the takeover, the secretary of the Confederate Treasury, Christopher Memminger, shuttered the facility due to the difficulty of obtaining bullion. Minting operations resumed in 1879 but were halted permanently in 1909, when the US Treasury Department closed the New Orleans branch.