United States Mint

William Strickland designed the United States Mint, which was built by John Mitchell and Benjamin F. Fox and renovated and fireproofed in 1856-59 under the supervision of Captain Johnson K. Dunkin. The site had previously held Fort San Carlos, erected in 1792 by Spanish Governor François Louis Hector, Baron de Carondelet; as Fort St. Charles it was demolished in 1821, and the site was named Jackson Square in honor of Major General Andrew Jackson, who had reviewed his troops there before the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. Confederate authorities seized the building in 1861, and Confederate coins were briefly minted there. After New Orleans fell to Federal forces, William B. Mumford was hanged in front of the Mint on June 7, 1862, for having torn down the United States flag. The building ceased to be used as a mint in 1909, became a federal prison in 1932, was occupied by the U.S. Coast Guard from 1948 to 1965, and was transferred to the State of Louisiana in 1966 and renovated as part of the Louisiana State Museum from 1978-1980, with EEAN Mc Naughton, Robert Biery, Michael Toups and Bernard Lemann as architects and J.A. Jones Construction Co. as contractors.

New Orleans, Louisiana · United States