Part 1

Ye Olde Mint

Being a brief description of the first U. S. Mint, established by Congress in the year 1792, at Seventh Street and Sugar Alley (now Filbert Street) Philadelphia

COMPLIMENTS OF Frank H. Stewart Electric Co. 7th and Filbert Streets Philadelphia

Copyright 1909 Frank H. Stewart Electric Co. Philadelphia, Pa.

FOREWORD

The great interest shown in numismatics and antiquities nowadays has caused this imperfect endeavor to collate some of the interesting historical data still in existence regarding the first United States Mint, and also at the same time preserve by means of photographs and descriptions the present appearance of the old buildings.

Practically every chronological list of important events which have happened in the United States records the establishment of the first United States Mint in Philadelphia in 1792, and if anyone has the time and inclination to investigate the history and coinage of the mint for the first forty (40) years of its existence, and publish to the numismatic world the result of his research, I shall be satisfied if my efforts here should furnish the slightest inspiration.

Numismatists very rarely, if ever, pay any attention to the persons who made their rare and valuable specimens of coins, and probably still less attention to the places where they were made.

The great majority of the rare United States coins were made in buildings still standing at 37 and 39 North Seventh Street, Philadelphia, or, to be more exact, in the coinage building in the rear of these numbers. Until recently these buildings were unmarked, and the people of the neighborhood in a great many instances were unaware of the fact that for a period of forty (40) years all of the United States coins were made so near at hand. Those who daily walked past the buildings had nothing to direct their attention to them, and it is safe to say that not five hundred persons in Philadelphia could point out what at one time was one of the most important buildings in the United States, as well as the first erected under authority of Congress for Federal purposes.

The author purchased the buildings and feels that it is his duty to do what he can to describe them before they are demolished, and also at the same time publish such data in his possession as may prove interesting or valuable to the limited few who collect rare coins or are in any way interested in what was an exceedingly important department of our early national life.

FRANK H. STEWART.

Ye OLDE MINT

The first United States mint buildings are indeed historical in more ways than one, and while a number of suggestions have been made for their preservation it is highly probable they will eventually be located by the means of a bronze tablet on the front of the steel and concrete structure in contemplation for the use of the Frank H. Stewart Electric Company, who now occupy the buildings adjoining them on the south and east. The retention of the buildings on the present site is prohibited on account of the great value of the land and its location in the heart of the business section, and their removal by private enterprise to another site unlikely because of the great expense that such removal would entail.

If a few 1804 dollars, which now have a record price of thirty-six hundred dollars each, should be found in the buildings, their removal would be rendered easier, provided they were found before the destruction of the buildings, but this is highly improbable, although there will undoubtedly be a few coins discovered, as there were when the building was erected on the Filbert Street lot on the site of the old mint smelting house, which is contiguous to the Seventh Street lot.

Washington in his first annual address to Congress referred to the importance of uniformity in the currency.

His second annual address urged the importance of the establishment of a mint.

In his third address he spoke of disorders in the existing currency, the scarcity of change, and recommended carrying into effect the resolution already entered into concerning the establishment of a mint; also remarked that measures had been taken for procuring some of the most necessary artists, together with the necessary apparatus.

His fourth annual address referred to employment of artists, both from abroad and at home, to aid in the establishment of the mint. He also stated that provision had been made for the requisite buildings, which were then being put in proper condition, and spoke of a small beginning in the coinage of half “dismes.”

His sixth annual address stated “the mint had entered upon the coinage of the precious metals, and there was a pleasing prospect that the institution would at no remote day realize the expectation which was originally formed of its utility.”

His seventh annual address called attention to “the necessity of further legislation for checking abuses in particular quarters, and for carrying its business more completely into effect.”

It will be seen from Washington’s reference in six out of eight of his messages to Congress to the currency and mint that he was deeply interested in the matter and considered it of more than ordinary importance.

It has been stated that he was a frequent visitor to the mint, and that the first silver dismes and half dismes were made from silver contributed by him. The will of John L. Kates, a former owner of the buildings, says that the corner-stone was laid by Washington, but this is unlikely, as he was not in Philadelphia the day on which it is supposed to have been laid. The contents of the corner-stone when found will undoubtedly contain something of great interest to antiquarians.

The original buildings, with the exception of the smelting house, still stand at 37 and 39 North Seventh Street, and in the rear of these numbers. There were three different brick buildings, all separated by yards and alleys, those facing Seventh Street were used for executive offices, etc. Immediately back of them was the one used as the coinage department, and back of that was the small two-story building facing Filbert Street and about twenty feet back of the line of that street. The old building used as the smelting house was torn down the latter part of 1907, and a four-story concrete building erected on the site.

The frontispiece shows the front buildings facing Seventh Street, and the illustration opposite page 5 the coinage building back of them, which is separated from the front buildings by a court yard 18 feet deep. Inasmuch as considerable attempt at ornamentation was made on the front of the coinage building, it is quite probable that this was the first building erected. Tradition has it that this was originally three stories high and that the top story was burned off. If such was the case the third story was of wooden construction. The walled up windows in the rear show the window sills to be badly charred.

Remains of old arched brick vaults still exist in the basement of 39 North Seventh Street.

The building in the rear, used as the coinage department, has two arched and paved brick vaults in its basement intact except the doors. One of the vaults, illustrated opposite page 9, has a smaller vault in its rear end, which was undoubtedly used as a storage place for the most valuable of the mint’s possessions. Strong brick arches and exceedingly heavy joists, averaging twelve inches square, were placed in the basement to support the coinage presses above.

The building formerly facing Filbert Street had no basement, and when excavations were made for the new building two old brick-walled wells were uncovered, one of which was four feet in diameter, with cesspool refuse in the bottom. The other well was about seven feet in diameter and the bottom was not reached, as the excavations only went down about 12 feet. These wells were between the old building and Filbert Street. The larger one was three or four feet back of the centre of the property at 35 North Seventh Street, and the other was just off the southeast corner of the demolished building. It is quite likely that the largest well furnished water for the distillery of Michael Shubart.

It is interesting to note that in the excavations on the site of the old building, several copper coins and planchets were found, most of which are illustrated opposite page 20. Two worthy of mention are about the size of half-cents, but with small holes in the centre, one of them having a milled edge, the other a plain edge. They are supposed to be planchets for the excessively rare 1792 silver centre cents, which must certainly have been struck off at the mint, otherwise the planchets would not have been found there. The author now has these finds in his possession, as well as a collection of hand forged hardware taken off the old building.

On May 8, 1792, the director of the mint was authorized, with the approbation of the President, to purchase a quantity of copper for the coinage of cents and half-cents, and Congress also provided that when fifty thousand (50,000) dollars of such cents and half-cents had been coined notice should be given to the public in at least two newspapers, and that any attempt to pass other copper coins would result in their forfeiture.

From a national viewpoint the old mint buildings are the most historical in the United States, because they were the first erected by the authority of the Federal Government for public use. It was the sole United States Mint from 1792 to 1833. The corner-stone was laid July 31, 1792, and presumably by David Rittenhouse, the celebrated astronomer and philosopher and first director of the mint. The achievements of Rittenhouse very readily place him in the same distinguished class as Benjamin Franklin.

The ground on which the first United States mint buildings stand was sold by William Penn to the Pennsylvania Land Company, and transferred to it by deed dated August 12, 1699, “in the 11th year of our Sovereign Lord King William III, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland.”

The Pennsylvania Land Company then consisted of Tobias Collett, haberdasher; Michael Russell, weaver; Daniel Quare, watchmaker, and Henry Goldney, linendraper, all of London, England.

The deed was signed by Penn August 17, 1699, and was stamped with two six-penny stamps. The consideration was 2,000 pounds. Herbert Springett, Wm. Martin and Wm. Springett acted as witnesses.

The mint grounds are part of “six inland city lots, lying between the two rivers, Delaware and Schuylkill.”

This deed, in addition to the six city lots which were evidently thrown in as a bonus, conveyed two river front lots, one on the Delaware and one on the Schuylkill, also 60,310 acres of land, variously and indefinitely located for the greater part. Two hundred and ten acres of this land was granted by warrant to Richard Noble, “old renter,” by Penn the 14th day of the 5th month, 1683, and afterwards by a patent to Noble the 5th day of the 6th month, 1685, by Thomas Lloyd, James Claypoole and Robert Turner, commissioners for Penn.

Another parcel of 100 acres of this land was part of a tract of 309 acres, “granted by an order from New York,” and surveyed on or about the 12th day of May, 1679, unto Wm. Clark, and afterwards disposed of to Richard Noble, and which was on the 8th day of the 8th month, 1689, granted and confirmed unto Noble by Wm. Markham and John Goodson, commissioners for Penn.

The 310 acres were transferred to Penn by Noble February 22, 1695.

The Penn deed to the Pennsylvania Land Company gives recital of grant to Penn by Charles II.

Richard Noble came over in the ship Griffith with John Fenwick in 1675 and landed at Salem, N. J. The Griffith was the first English ship to land in west New Jersey.

Noble surveyed and plotted the town of Burlington, N. J., in 1677, and on December 15, 1679, was appointed surveyor by Governor Andross, of New York, as surveyor of Upland, now Chester, Pa. He also surveyed a part of the present site of Philadelphia for the Swedes, Swansons, in 1681.

Wm. Markham was a cousin of Wm. Penn and landed in America in 1681. He at one time held a captaincy in the English army. He was the first Deputy-Governor of Pennsylvania.

Thomas Lloyd was president of council, justice of the peace of Philadelphia, and _de facto_ Deputy-Governor in 1690. He founded, under Penn’s instructions, the first public school in Pennsylvania in 1689.

James Claypoole built the first brick house in Philadelphia, and was a member of council in 1687 and one of the Free Society of Traders.

Robert Turner was a close friend of Penn, and at one time a merchant of Dublin, Ireland. Penn was in frequent correspondence with him and, among other things, wrote him on May 5, 1681, how and why the name of Pennsylvania was selected. He was also a member of the Free Society of Traders.

John Goodson was a prominent man in the early days of the settlement of Pennsylvania, and like Markham, Lloyd, Claypoole, Turner and others empowered to sell land for Penn.

The Pennsylvania Land Company held possession until December 26, 1758, when Francis Rawle, acting as its attorney, transferred a parcel containing part of the mint lots to Daniel Roberdeau, he being the highest bidder at a public sale.

This piece of land was described as a “certain piece of ground situate on the east side of the Seventh Street from the Delaware, City of Philadelphia, containing in breadth on the said street 50 feet, and in length or depth 198 feet, or thereabouts, be the same more or less, to the middle or half way between Sixth Street and Seventh Street,” bounded on the south by the back ends of High Street (now Market) and on the north by land of Rebecca Cooper.

On December 26, 1758 (the same date as the Roberdeau deed) Francis Rawle, attorney for Thomas Hyam, merchant; Thomas Reynolds, clothworker, and Thomas How, goldsmith, only surviving feoffees in trust of the Pennsylvania Land Company, sold to Rebecca Cooper, spinster, as the highest bidder at public sale, “a certain piece of ground situate on the east side of the Seventh Street from Delaware in the said City of Philadelphia, containing in breadth on the same street 50 feet.”

This lot was also 198 feet deep and bounded on the east by land conveyed to Richard Farmer, as was the ground sold to Daniel Roberdeau. Joshua Howell and William Govett were witnesses on both the deeds and both were acknowledged before Isaac Jones, Justice.

Daniel Roberdeau, by deed dated February 27, 1759, conveyed to Richard Farmer, practitioner in physics, the same piece of ground he purchased at auction of the Pennsylvania Land Company. Deed witnessed by H. W. Dovey and John Reily.

Rebecca Cooper, by deed dated April 3, 1759, also sold to Richard Farmer the ground she purchased at auction of the Pennsylvania Land Company. Her lot was bounded on the south by ground late of Daniel Roberdeau.

These two pieces of ground of 50 feet each on Seventh Street, each contained part of what afterwards became the mint lot, which faced Seventh Street, and which was, and now is, 36 feet 10 inches front, with another lot making an outlet on Filbert Street, now covered by a four-story concrete and steel-frame building occupied by the Frank H. Stewart Electric Company, and connected by openings with the building on the northeast corner of Seventh and Filbert Streets, also occupied by the same concern.

Richard Farmer and wife, by deed dated September 1, 1760, conveyed to Michael Shubart, distiller, “two certain pieces of ground,” one of which was located on Seventh Street, with a frontage of 36 feet and 10 inches and with a depth of 99 feet, which was bounded on the south by a piece of ground sold by Farmer to George Keller, 20 feet by 99 feet.

The other piece of ground was on the north side of a certain 14-foot alley (now Filbert Street, mentioned for the first time), containing in breadth 17 feet on the alley and 56 feet 10 inches deep, connecting with above lot in the rear and for its entire width as well as the Keller lot.

The consideration was a yearly ground rental of 21 Spanish silver pieces of 8 of 17 pennyweight and 6 grains each, with the option within seven years of cancellation by payment of 133 pounds, lawful money of Pennsylvania.

Shubart agreed to erect within four (4) years on one of the pieces of ground one good brick kitchen, or tenement, or other brick building at least 15 feet square.

This deed was witnessed by Robert Wilson, Jr., and John Clarkson; acknowledged by Wm. Peters, justice.

This transfer shows that the High Street lots, near Seventh Street, extended at one time back to what is now Filbert Street, and also that Richard Farmer’s land was taken in whole or in part for the purpose of what then was termed an alley, and later known as Sugar Alley, then Farmers Street, and now Filbert Street.

James Ash, high sheriff, on May 27, 1790, conveyed to Frederick Hailer the land purchased by Shubart from Farmer, together with a tenement distill house and coppers, distills, worms, cisterns, tubs and other utensils belonging to said distillery.

This conveyance was subject to the payment of the yearly ground rent of 21 Spanish pieces of 8.

Jacob Barge was the creditor who caused the sale.

Frederick Wailer, surgeon barber, and wife, Christiana, July 18, 1792, sold to the United States Government the land and distill house and frame tenement building formerly owned by Shubart.

This deed recites the Act of Congress referred to elsewhere, and states “the President in pursuance thereof caused to be purchased from said Wailer, etc., etc.”

Wailer made a nice profit. He bought it for 515 pounds and sold it for 4,266⅔ dollars, subject to the ground rent as before.

This deed was acknowledged by Wailer and wife before James Biddle, president of the Court of Common Pleas, of the County of Philadelphia, July 21, 1792.

During the entire time the government owned the property it paid an annual ground rent, which seems rather strange now.

On July 1, 1792, Washington appointed David Rittenhouse director of the mint, and on July 19th, the day following the purchase, eight carpenters, besides other laborers, commenced to tear down the distillery, and on August 25th the frame work for the new building was raised.

Work on the bellows furnaces was commenced September 7th, and on September 11th six pounds of old copper for coinage was purchased at the price of one shilling three pence per pound.

Three coining presses, imported from Europe, arrived September 21st, and in October they were in operation.

On December 30, 1792, Jefferson, then Secretary of State, wrote Pinckney, our minister to England, about the difficulty of procuring copper, and suggested Sweden as a source of supply and enclosed draft on the treasury of the United States for $10,000.

The United States of America on January 12, 1836, by deed reciting Act of Congress under date of May 1, 1830, transferred the mint grounds and buildings to Michael Kates, bell hanger, for $8,100, he having been the highest bidder at public sale. In this deed the 14-foot alley was called Sugar Alley and the ground rent again noted.

Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America, signed this deed and the great seal of the United States of America was attached. John Forsyth, Secretary of State, witnessed the President’s signature.

On February 18, 1836, Francis Hopkinson, Clerk of the District and Circuit Courts of the United States of America for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, appeared before John Swift, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, and on his oath said he was acquainted with the signatures of both Jackson and Forsyth and was satisfied they were their own and proper signatures.

The neighborhood of the old mint is rich in traditions regarding it, and it may happen that when the buildings are torn down some of them will be substantiated.

During the War of 1812 Dr. R. M. Patterson, Adam Eckfelt and Joseph Cloud, respectively director of the mint, chief coiner, melter and refiner, were engaged at the Breast Works at Grays Ferry, and, as these gentlemen were the chief employees of the mint at the time, it is highly probable there was considerable alarm over the safety of the mint. Among other traditions is one that the bullion, planchets and coins were walled up and buried during this scare. The actions of the British at Washington showed their tendency towards destruction of government property.

An old lady living in West Philadelphia has the original appointment of her ancestor, Joseph Cloud, to his position in the mint, signed by Washington. She would not even allow it to be photographed for fear something might happen to it while in the photographer’s hands.

Biddle’s Directory of 1791 gives the address of Michael Shubart, distiller, as 29 North Seventh Street; Hardie’s 1793 directory gives the mint at 29 North Seventh Street, which indicates that a change of numbers in the mint property has been made since that time. Shubart was a prominent Philadelphian; during the Revolution he was a city assessor, and on one occasion took an unconditional oath while his colleagues made a reservation. In the elaborate pageant of July 4, 1788, he bore the Standard at the head of the distillery section, followed by other notables engaged in that business.

Daniel Roberdeau, mentioned elsewhere as an owner of part of the mint grounds, at one time was a brigadier-general of militia, and his name appears frequently in the Revolutionary Annals of Philadelphia as a man of pronounced ideas and stern character.

The beginning of the mint establishment may be traced back to the articles of Confederation, dated July 9, 1778, which contained the following: “The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority or by that of the respective States.”

The Constitution of the United States, September 17, 1787, contains in Article I, Section 8: “The Congress shall have power to coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coins”; and further, “No State shall coin money, emit bills of credit, make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts.”

Analysis of the above will show the reason why the various States discontinued their own coinage.

The Continental Congress, January 7, 1782, instructed Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, to prepare and report a table of rates at which the different species of foreign coins most likely to circulate within the United States should be received at the treasury. On January 15th, the week following, he made a lengthy report regarding the different names and values of coins then in use and the necessity of a legal tender. He stated that the necessary machinery for a mint could easily be made and that the advantage of possessing legal money in preference to any other would induce people to carry foreign money to the mint until a sufficiency were struck for the circulating medium, and the remainder of foreign gold and silver coins should be left entirely to the operations of commerce as bullion.