A Charlotte Icon: The History of the Charlotte Mint

 

Shannon L

History 141

November 19, 2010

A Charlotte Icon: The History of the Charlotte Mint

 

    The Charlotte Mint has a rich history. The Mint Museum is connected to many "firsts" for Charlotte. The first gold in the United States was found here in our region, the first gold rush was soon to follow. The first branch of the United States Mint was erected here on West Trade Street uptown because of the gold rush and, the first art museum in North Carolina stands here as well. From its beginning as the first branch of the United States Mint to housing a diverse collection of art today, the Mint is an icon, woven into the fabric of Charlotte culture.

In the late 1700's a farmer's young son, Conrad Reid was fishing on his father's property in Little Meadow Creek. He spotted a large rock glittering in the water, picked it out and took it home. It sat in the home as a doorstop for a number of years before anyone noticed that it might have some value. Mr. Reid took the rock to a Concord silversmith who could not identify it. On an annual trip to Fayetteville John Reid came across a jeweler who was able to identify the rock immediately and asked him to leave it with him so he could flux it. When he returned, the unnamed jeweler showed him a bar of gold extracted from the rock that was about eight inches long. Mr. Reed, having no concept of the value of gold asked him for $3.50 for the bar, which the jeweler hurriedly paid him. The Jeweler really ended up with a gem. He was able to extract about $3,600.00 worth of gold from the Reid "doorstop." (Knapp, 1999 Revised)

Although gold fever did not really start for approximately 20 more years, this was the beginning of the first gold rush in the U.S. By the 1820's, farmers were panning for gold on their properties after a day's work in the fields and even purchasing and utilizing slave labor to mine creeks and the land with just about anything they could turn the earth with.

Mining for gold had become profitable enough that by 1830 Charlotte had a newspaper, The Miners' and Farmers' Journal, dedicated to it. Soon, the "out of towners" rolled in to get their piece of the pie (Kratt, 2009). According to Mary Kratt, Henry Bissell of New York purchased interest in two of the mines and applied some European mining techniques including the use of a stamp mill to remove the gold from the rock. This yielded much more gold than the surface mining that had been instituted up to this point (Kratt, 2009). It was the first stamp mill used in this country. Europeans started arriving after that. Count Chevalier Vincent Rivafinoli represented a London mining company and had the capital and knowledge to extract approximately 3,800 ounces of gold from Charlotte's Rudisill Mine in a 90-day period, an impressive amount. (Kratt, 2009)

Gold had to be transported to Philadelphia to be minted. This caused major headaches both because the coaches were under constant attack from criminals and because it was a treacherous, long haul for those transporting it. With the amount of gold being extracted in and around the Charlotte area, the need for a closer solution for minting arose. There were a few private mints including the Bechtler's, the first to mint gold coins in the State of North Carolina. The small town of Charlotte, about 2,000 people at the time, sent a proposition to congress to put a branch mint here. The Secretary of the Treasury and members of Congress opposed this idea, preferring that the first branch mint be located in a more desirable location like New Orleans or New York where there was access to a seaport (Kratt, 2009).

A committee was set up to review the logistics of locating a branch mint in Charlotte and in its findings, recommended the location. Of course, Charlotte also had friends in high places.

James K. Polk, the chair for the Ways and Means committee and Andrew Jackson, President of the United States both hailed from Mecklenburg County and probably exerted their influence in favor of the Charlotte location. The committee's recommendation for establishing a branch mint in Charlotte was approved on March 3, 1835 by a landslide vote of 24 to 19. Congress appropriated $50,000.00 for the mint, which was built on purchased land on West Trade Street, a few blocks from the center of town (Wilkinson, 1973).

William Strickland of Philadelphia was commissioned to design the Charlotte Branch. He was an acclaimed architect whose impressive résumé included Philadelphia's Masonic Hall, the Philadelphia Exchange and the State Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee. Strickland was well noted for several architectural styles but his talent shone in Greek revival style, in which the Mint was designed. He charged only $150.00 for the plans for the Charlotte Mint and while he did not oversee the construction, he was readily available for any necessary consultation on his plan (Wilkinson, 1973).

The Charlotte Mint's cornerstone included a horseshoe "Cast by George Washington's horse when the President visited old Charlottetown in 1791" according to Henrietta Wilkinson (Wilkinson, 1973). On January 8, 1836, the cornerstone of the Charlotte Mint was set. The Charlotte Branch Mint opened on December 4, 1837 and cost $29,700.00 to build (Morrill, 2006).

The Charlotte Mint never struck silver coinage. Gold coins in the denominations of $2.50 and $5.00, know as quarter eagles and half eagles respectively for the shielded eagle struck on the reverse side of the coin, were minted from 1938 to 1849. Between 1849 and $1.00 gold coins were minted as well. Today, although a rare find commanding a high price, you can still find Charlotte minted gold coins through dealers and collectors (Incorporated, 2004)

In 1844, tragedy struck. The mint caught fire and burned almost completely to the ground. Some things were saved but the coin presses were destroyed. N. C. Congressman Barringer asked congress to restore the mint and it agreed. The mint building was restored to its original plan, but to fireproof standards designed by Robert Mills, in April of 1846 and reopened for business (Wilkinson, 1973). However, no coins were minted out of Charlotte for the two years the mint was closed.

The succession of the southern states from the union began with Abraham Lincoln's election being the final blow to the south. As the states in the south began succeeding, Governor Ellis of N.C. ordered Colonel Bryce to Seize the United States Branch Mint in Charlotte in the name of North Carolina, which became the final state to succeed from the union on May 20, 1861. Henrietta Wilkinson states in her book that no additional deposits were made after this date. During the war years in Charlotte, the mint housed many different activities. It served as a headquarters for Confederate troops and office space for the Navy. It was also used as a United States military post and a hospital for Confederate soldiers (Bulletin of The Mint Museum of Art Charlotte N.C. , 1937). After the War, the Mint was reopened but never struck another coin (Wilkinson, 1973).

The Mint's next claim to fame was housing Thomas Edison's experiments on extracting gold with electricity in 1901 (Kratt, 2009). Edison believed that gold could be extracted from rock by running and electric current through it. He felt Charlotte's gold was the most beautiful but there was not a sufficient amount for the experiments he was trying to engage in and although he was fond of Charlotte, high real estate prices drove him back to New Jersey in 1903 (Wilkinson, 1973).

Despite its varied service to the community the Government ordered the Charlotte Mint closed for good in 1913 having struck $10,163,660 between its inception in 1837 and the outbreak of war in 1861 as gold supplies were reported to be diminishing and the majority of miners had moved West to California about 70 years earlier (Kratt, 2009) .

The Mint sat empty for four years between 1913 and 1917. It then hosted a myriad of tenants. It was used as a federal courthouse for a while and as a Red Cross headquarters. Maybe most importantly to the building throughout its history, it also served as a meeting place for the Charlotte Women's Club (Wilkinson, 1973). By 1932, the Federal building that housed the United State's Post Office began making plans for expansion, which would bring much-needed jobs while people were trying to recover from the Great Depression. For the old Mint building, this meant destruction. There was much turmoil surrounding the decision to raze the mint building to make way for the expansion of the federal building that also housed the Post Office. According to an article written in the Charlotte Observer on May 21, 1931, John W. Mclusky, an architect from Washington sent to assess the situation for expansion, would return to D.C. to present a report on how to best use the half a million dollar appropriation. While he offered no recommendation on the matter, Charlotteans knew that Washington would lose little sleep over razing the Mint building in favor of the new L shaped plan for the federal building (Charlotte Will Know Design of New Federal Building Soon, 1931). Citizens in Charlotte, especially members of the women's club, did not want the historic building destroyed to make way for the new. They wrote letters to federal officials expressing their opinions and began to organize with Ms. Julia Alexander, Charlotte's first female attorney, spearheading the campaign (Wilkinson, 1973). Mr. Mclusky put off his return to Washington "…For the specific purpose of gathering further information as to the sentiment concerning the removal of the Mint building." states an article in the Charlotte observer (Opponents of Razing of Mint Building Expect to Organize, 1931).

By 1933, it had been decided that the old Mint building would be torn down. Mrs. Mary Myers Dwelle, Chairperson for the art department for Charlotte's Women's Club, and J. Steere, a friend of Mary's and an executive for the Boy Scouts, got together and each invited a dozen people to a meeting to discuss what could possibly be done to save the old Mint. The fourteen people that attended the meeting set up by Dwelle and Steere formed the Mint Museum Society (Kratt, 2009). Each did his or her part to raise funds and save the Mint. Julia Alexander, Charlotte's first female attorney and local historian and Mary Ivie promoted sentiment for the old building in the community and rallied support (Wilkinson, 1973). They started fundraising campaigns, which was no small feat, especially since the economy was just coming out of a depression (Kratt, 2009).

Of all the persons organized to save the Mint, Mary Myers Dwelle, J. Steere, architect Martin Boyer, E.C. Griffith, and Dr. Rush Shull were instrumental in preserving the building.

Mary Myers Dwelle had taken carriage outings on Sundays with her father John Springs Myers the founder of Myers Park, where they travelled past the Mint Building. He instilled in her a love for the grand building that carried through to her adulthood (Claiborne, 1973). Her appreciation for the building and the nostalgia that surrounded it prompted her to lead the charge in saving the Mint. She called upon her connections in the community to take a stand and as Henrietta Wilkinson puts it "assist in a project requiring a diversity of talent (Wilkinson, 1973). Her passion for art was a catalyst for establishing the building as North Carolina's first art museum (Wilkinson, 1973). Mary herself was the impetus for the whole project.

Mr. Martin Boyer had made many sketches of the old Mint Building through the years. He even did full to scale measured drawings of it so if anything ever happened to it, it could be re-created. He offered to donate his time and architectural expertise in putting the rubble of the Mint building back together (Wilkinson, 1973).

Dr. Rush Shull was a prominent doctor in the community who had seen hard times during the depression and was forced, along with his wife Eula, to file bankruptcy. He was quite interested in radiology as a new technology in the late 1920's and joined the Radiological Society of North America in 1930. He was the first to discover that asbestos workers were developing fibroids in the lungs and published a paper on it (The Cliffside Historical Society, 2010).

He had attended the meeting in Mr. Steere's office and was appointed chair of ways and means (Wilkinson, 1973). He sent correspondence to NC Senator Reynolds and inquired as rather or not the members of the Mint Museum Society could have the rubble of the old Mint if they would pay to have it moved (Wilkinson, 1973). The Senator replied that they could have the old bricks, etc. but they would have to work a price for moving it with Mr. W.R. Hart, who had bought the materials earlier that day (Wilkinson, 1973).

Mrs. Dwelle and Dr. Shull met with Mr. Hart and he told them he would sell them the materials left for $1,500.00 and deposit them safely at a new site (Wilkinson, 1973). Times were tough in the '30's and there was really no way to get a hold of that kind of money. The project was put on hold until suitable funds could be secured. The Charlotte Women's Club met in February and were inspired by their guest speaker who plead with them to help preserve their heritage. By the end of the meeting, the women had raised $425.00 to save the Mint (Wilkinson, 1973). All in all $920.00 was raised to purchase the building materials from Mr. Hart, who ultimately accepted only $950.00 instead of the original $1,500 (Wilkinson, 1973).

The next order of business was to find a new location for reconstruction and find the money to have it rebuilt. E.C. Griffith was a contractor who had built the Eastover neighborhood. While looking for a suitable location, he donated a three-acre tract of land next to Eastover for the Museum to be reconstructed on. It seemed like a perfect location and the Mint Museum Society accepted his generous offer (Wilkinson, 1973).

In February of 1933, the building was razed with each brick carefully numbered by Martin Boyer and relocated to its new home (Wilkinson, 1973).

Over the next few years, various committees worked on raising enough money to put the Mint back together and realize their dream of opening the Mint Museum of Art on the site in Eastover. Mary Myers Dwelle and Dr. Rush Shull, upon falling short of their fundraising goal, went to the bank to make inquiry as to funding. Dr. Shull put up his new X-Ray machine for collateral and they received between $2,500 and $3,500 dollars according to two different sources (Wilkinson, 1973) (The Cliffside Historical Society, 2010). Tenaciously working on this project, Mary Myers Dwelle received a letter from the guest speaker that had rallied the women's club to raise the initial funds to purchase the building material. Ms. Mechlin sent Mary a letter telling her that under some of the New Deal public works programs created by President Roosevelt; it may be possible to secure some grant money for the mint so Mary Dwelle headed first off to Raleigh and then off to Washington D. C. to gather information (Wilkinson, 1973). With the help of Charles Gilmore in Mecklenburg County and Mrs. Thomas O'Berry in Raleigh, the Emergency Relief Administration agreed to fund the "Re-erection of old Mint Building, Eastover" with a budget of $46,725.00 and became Civil Works Administration Project # 33031 (Hanchett, 1998) (Wilkinson, 1973).

For almost five long years, the tenacity and dedication of a community to save part of their heritage and leave a legacy to those that would come after them was realized. After being chartered on 28, April 1933, the Mint Museum of Art at Charlotte was opened to the public on October 22, 1936 (Art N. C., 1961).

A Charlotte Observer article reports that one thousand invitations to the formal opening were sent out to various people in other cities as well as Charlotte. Mr. Charles W. Tillett Jr. served as MC and Mayor Ben Douglas accepted the dedication on behalf of the people of Charlotte. Dr. Frank Graham, president of the University of North Carolina at the time, was to give a speech on "The Art Museum as an Educational Factor." It also represents that many other guest speakers were to be present including Ms. Leila Mechlin of Washington D.C., advisory director to the museum and, one of the women who had helped make it all possible by inspiring the Charlotte Women's Club to save this piece of history on that fateful day in February of 1933 (Observer, 1936). Mrs. Mary Myers Dwelle had been elected President of the Museum in April of 1935.

The Golden Eagle on the front of the building was the symbol for the assayer and all gold struck was required to have the eagle or part of it stamped on them by law. Once the Mint was closed in 1913, the eagle remained over the door until it was in such bad condition that the custodian of the Mint was afraid it would fall and had it removed and put into an old building on the property (Wilkinson, 1973). When the mint was being torn down, it was relegated to the trash and "picked up by a man who cut and sold firewood for a living" according to Henrietta Wilkinson's book. A man by the name of Severs wanted it for a museum he ran of Mecklenburg county relics and S. B. Alexander wished to have it for the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution. It ended up being sold to Alexander who ultimately gave it to the Committee for Mint Reconstruction to return to its rightful place above the door on the Mint Building. It was reconstructed and re-gilded and the Alexanders gave it as a gift to the museum. The original eagle graced the building until 1971 when the head fell off it.

It was reconstructed out of poly-resin and fiberglass by a sculptor by the name of Richard Kinnard and Gilded by Zeke Foard of Sign Art Company as a donation. The new eagle was hung on July 9, 1972 (Wilkinson, 1973).

The first year the Museum was open, it was visited by over 26,000 people (Bulletin of The Mint Museum of Art Charlotte N.C. , 1937). People from all over came to see its exhibits both permanent and on loan from patrons and other museums. Again, Mary Dwelle and Leila Mechlin worked very hard to procure art from patrons and to attract travelling exhibits and borrow works from other museums. It should be noted that in the very first years of the opening of the Mint Museum, most of these people who were so unconditionally dedicated to making it what it is today were volunteers not paid for their time or paid very little. They did it because they believed in it and wanted to enrich the community. Mary Dwelle wrote to Samuel H. Kress a collector of Renaissance art and asked for a show for the grand opening but dates could not be worked out. He was however able to send "Madonna" by Francesco Granacci which is part of the permanent collection today (Art N. C., 1961). "The Golden Hour" was the first painting to be donated to the museum. It was done by a painter from the Hudson River School movement, an important art movement in early American history concerning landscape, called William Hart. It was the first of four given by Mary Myers Dwelle's cousin, Richard Springs and was donated in the memory of Eli Baxter Springs, a former Mayor of Charlotte (Mint Museum Of Art, 2006). A portrait of the city's namesake, Queen Charlotte, painted by Allan Ramsay was also given to the museum and was installed just in time for inaugural ceremonies to commence (Wilkinson, 1973). Mary Dwelle herself gifted the museum a fine piece of art. It is "Christ and the Samaritan Woman" painted in the mid 1600's by Italian artist Sisto Badalocchio famous for his frescoes in the style of Carvaggio (Art N. C., 1961). The catalogue of paintings was written by Leila Mechlin and included biographies of the artists (Wilkinson, 1973). The Mint Museum included in its list of services to the community; art classes for the young and old, a theatre guild, a symphonic assembly and lecturers (Wilkinson, 1973).

    Unfortunately, for the Mint, where it was situated caused the basement to flood on a regular basis and it was hard to control the climate in inside, a mandatory task when dealing with art. Funds were not available to install air conditioning until sometime in the 1950's. This caused the museum to miss acquiring some amazing works of art from the Samuel Kress Foundation in the late 1930's, they were sent to South Carolina instead (Wilkinson, 1973). In 1967, Mellanay Delhome came to charlotte from Chicago and instituted a large and impressive private collection of ceramics of which she was appointed curator. She agreed to come to Charlotte and donate her collection as long as a gallery was specifically built to contain the collection and money was raised. The new gallery was opened in September 1967 (Wilkinson, 1973).

    In the 1980's the Mint underwent expansion and renovation yet again. The Dalton Wing was added in 1985 tripling the space in the Mint and housed the donated collection of Harry and Mary Dalton (PSMG, Inc., 2004). The Carolina Arts website states that the addition of the Dalton Wing supplied the museum with galleries for the permanent collections, libraries, classrooms, storage and additional office space. The Dalton Wing faces Randolph Road and is now the main entrance.

In 1999, through funding from Bank of America, Hugh McColl and others, the Mint was able to open the center for Craft and Design. It was opened in the renovated Montaldo's Department Store on Tryon Street uptown. It had previously been a funeral home and a livery stable (history, 2010). The building was designed in 1953 by architect Louis Asbury (history, 2010). Since North Carolina has a rich tradition of craft, it housed collections in five different areas; ceramics, wood, metal, glass and fiber. It also focused on areas of design including architecture, furniture design and graphic design (Mint Museum Of Art, 2006). The Mint Museum of Craft and Design closed in February of 2007 to prepare to relocate to the museum's newest expansion.

On October 1, 2010, the Mint Museum of Charlotte opened a $56,000,000 facility designed by Machado and Silvetti Associates in Boston, MA. Clark Patterson Lee of Charlotte was the architect of record. The 145,000 square foot facility encompasses 24,000 square feet for Permanent Collection Galleries, 12,000 so for temporary exhibitions, 13,200 so for art storage, a 3,000 so museum shop, 6,648 so for education areas and 11,615 so for special events space (Art M. M., 2010). The current facility on Randolph measures 73,000 sf. The expansion allows for an excellent facility, which will attract world-class national and international exhibits. It is located at 500 South Tryon Street and is part of the Wells Fargo Cultural Campus, which also contains the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture, The Knight Theatre, the Duke Energy Center and the Bechtler's Museum of Modern Art (Art M. M., 2010).

The Mint Uptown will house the contents of the Craft and Design museum as well as American Art, Contemporary Art and European Art. The Mint Randolph will house African Art, Art of the Ancient Americas, Asian Art, Ceramics, Coins and Currency, Decorative Arts, Historic Costume and Fashionable Dress, Native American Art and Spanish Colonial Art. The Mint Museum Randolph will continue to reinstall its collections through 2012 (Art M. M., 2010)

Due to a bit of good fortune during the first gold rush and the dedication and determination of a few Charlotteans who started a movement, the Charlotte Mint has been a steadfast Icon of our History and Culture for over 200 years. Through all of Charlotte's evolution, the Mint has been there. It remains a vital part of our history and we will leave it as our legacy for generations yet to come.

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Art, M. M. (2010). Expansion Fact Sheet. Retrieved from http://www.mintmuseum.org/uploads/downloads/Expansion/Expansion_Fact_Sheet.pdf

Art, N. C. (1961, January Volume 4 No. 5). The Mint Museum of Art 1936-1961- 25th Anniversary. Calendar of ART Events .

Bulletin of The Mint Museum of Art Charlotte N.C. . (1937, November and December Volume 1 Number 2). Charlotte, NC: Mint Museum of Art.

Charlotte Will Know Design of New Federal Building Soon. (1931, May 21). The CHarlotte Observer , p. Section 1 Page 9.

Claiborne, J. (1973, November 10). Care Did It . The Charlotte Observer .

Hanchett, T. (1998). Sorting Out The New South City Race, Class and Urban Development in Charlotte 1875-1975. University of North Carolina Press.

history. (2010). Retrieved 2010, from Mint Museum: http://www.mintmuseum.org/about-the-museum.html

Incorporated, B. a. (2004). The Charlotte Branch Mint. Retrieved 10 2010, from Blanchardonline.com: http://www.blanchardonline.com/AmericanRarities/archive-08/char.html

Knapp, D. R. (1999 Revised). Golden Promise in the Piedmont: The Story of John Reed's Mine. Reed Gold Mine.

Kratt, M. (2009). Charlotte North Carolina A Brief History. Charleston: The History Press.

Mint Museum Of Art. (2006). 1936-2006 70 Years Celebrating the past/Envisioning the Future. Retrieved 2010, from http://www.mintmuseum.org/_userFiles/File/SeptOct06%2070th%20anniversary.pdf

Morrill, D. D. (2006). Historic Charlotte An Illustrated History of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. San Antonio: Historical Publishing Network.

Observer, C. (1936, October 18). Museum of Art Opening is Set. The Charlotte Observer , p. Section 2 page 1.

Opponents of Razing of Mint Building Expect to Organize. (1931, May 20). The Charlotte Observer , p. Section 1 Page 4.

PSMG, Inc. (2004). Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC, Honors Harry and Mary Dalton's Contributions with Exhibition. Retrieved 12 2010, from Carolina Arts: http://www.carolinaarts.com/105mint.html

The Cliffside Historical Society. (2010). History Profile:Dr. Rush Shull. Retrieved 12 2010, from remember Cliffside: http://remembercliffside.com/history/profiles/shull/shull.html#top

Wilkinson, H. H. (1973). The Mint Museum of Art at Charlotte A Brief History. Charotte: Heritage Printers Inc.