TREASURES
ОТ
ART NOW, AND
NOT OF (bOEJ)
Money seems often to provide the
background for culture so probably it
is quite logical that the handsome
building first built in Charlotte. N. C..
as a Federal Mint, should be the home
of Mint Museum of Art where not only
exhibitions of fine paintings arc shown
but the other "live arts" — dancing,
chamber music, and classes in all these
and kindred crafts besides — form
the basic culture program of the fast¬
growing Queen City.
The original Mint was designed by
William Strickland who lived in Phila¬
delphia over 100 years ago and won
How Charlotte Saved Its Mint
fame as architect, engineer, engraver.
Today he is remembered especially
for his encouragement of the use of
fine Greek architectural designs in
public buildings in our country. Fortu¬
nately, he had a talent for avoiding
the pompous and ornate. His design for
this Mint is as well suited to its present
location in a beautiful residential sec¬
tion as it was to the original site in
the heart of town — just four blocks
west of the city's famous “Square.” Of
course, at the time the Government
bought that first site it paid only $1,-
500 for those valuable four acres.
The building has simplicity and
dignity and a great golden eagle
spreads its wings beneath the sloping
pediment of the front door. Of this
eagle. Stuart Warren Cramer, Sr., as-
sayer of the Mint from 1889-93, said:
“This eagle was a landmark in
Charlotte when I first came here and a
pet of the Charlotte people, as well it
might be for it was perhaps the largest
eagle in the world being 13 fu from
tip to tip and 5 ft. high. When I had
to redecorate it. it took over 165 books
of gold leaf and 10 books of silver
leaf to cover it."
Mr. Cramer did not leave records
to show how much he had to pay at
that time for all that gold and silver
leaf but, at today’s market-price in
1954, it would have cost him SI. 85
per book for the gold and $1.80 for
the silver — only you can’t get silver
leaf at this time and would have to
substitute palladium. This means it
costs about $323.25 every time this
eagle is dressed up in his gorgeous
best gold and silver paint — at today's
prices. Because of this, the last time
he was refurbished, about three years
ago, he had to be content with a less
glamorous coat of gold radiator paint.
This Mint was built by Act of Con¬
gress March 3, 1835, to serve miners
of the southern Appalachians when
that was the only gold-mining region
in this country, 14 years before the
famous "gold rush" to California.
Prominent men associated with the
Mint from 1837 to 1861, during which
time $5,000,000 was turned into coin
there, included: Colonel John H.
Wheeler, its first superintendent, who
wrote The History of N. C; Dr. John
H. Gibbon, first assayer, and, as other
assayers — Col. Burgess Gaither,
James W. Osborne. Julius Hoke, the
Hon. Calvin Cowles, Judge D. Kerby
Pope, and W. S. Pearson.
In 1844 the Mint was nearly
destroyed by fire but two years later
had been restored on the same archi-
By
HELEN FETTER COOK
tectural plan. It was Confederate
headquarters during the War Between
the States and still has a fine collection
of relics of that time. When reopened
after that war, coinage was discon¬
tinued but it was used for assaying ore
till 1913. In 1901 Thomas Edison
worked on experiments there trying
to extract gold from ore with electricity
but he did not find the process prac¬
ticable. During World War I, the Mint
was headquarters for the American
Red Cross.
When the Government ordered the
building demolished in 1932, many in¬
terested in Charlotte’s history and cul¬
tural development were aghast at the
prospect of losing the fine old building.
Miss Julia Alexander and Mrs. Harold
C. Dwelle started a movement to save
it. The depression at its peak, money
was as scarce as a northern accent and
the Government refused to sell the
land at any price, anyway.
Mrs. Dwelle. whose father had a
large plantation (now the residential
section of town known as Myers Park
— named for him) had long wanted an
art museum in Charlotte. She realized
the Mint was perfect for this purpose.
One February morning in 1933 she
read in her Charlotte Observer that
the Mint was being tom down and
sold to a contractor. She flew to her
telephone and called together a small
but enthusiastic band. By this time the
Mint’s roof was off, its interior dis-
THE STATE. October 23. 1954
