by Tom Butenhoff for the Action Advertiser

Have you noticed the new five-dollar bills? They’re circulating now, and they are a little different, thanks to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

The National Bureau of Engraving and Printing was established back on August 29, 1862. It was started in a single room in the basement of the main treasury building where two men and four women separated and sealed by hand one- and two-dollar United States notes, which had been printed by private bank note companies.

Today, there are approximately 25,000 employees who work out of two buildings in Washington, DC, and at a new facility located in Forth Worth, TX. The official opening of the western currency facility took place on April 26, 1991.

Electric lighting came to the bureau in 1888. Along with the nation’s currency, the bureau took over the printing of all revenue stamps in 1876 and began printing postage stamps in 1894. During World War II, the bureau over printed stocks of regular currency notes with distinguishing identification for use in the Hawaiian Islands.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has printed currency for the governments of the Republic of Cuba (1934), Siam (1945), Korea (1947), and the Philippines (1928).

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