FREMONT, Ohio – Residents of Fremont and the surrounding area today celebrated the release of the new Presidential $1 Coin honoring their hometown hero, Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th President of the United States.
“The Presidential $1 Coin series connects us to the wellspring of our nation’s greatness and the many stories that unite us,” said Marc Landry, Acting Associate Director of Manufacturing at the United States Mint. “One of those stories is captured at Spiegel Grove, the beautiful place where President Rutherford B. Hayes retired from elected office but remained a dedicated public servant, helping veterans, improving prisons and fighting for universal education.”
Landry shared the stage with several state and local officials, including Thomas J. Culbertson, executive director of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. The center is a compound that includes Spiegel Grove, the former President’s home, and the Rutherford B. Hayes Center Library, the first Presidential library . Members of the public who attended the event were among the first in the Nation to get the new $1 coin, which entered into circulation today. Following the ceremony, each attendee 18 years old and younger received a Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential $1 Coin to commemorate the event, and adults exchanged their currency for 25–coin rolls of the new coin.
The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential $1 Coin is the 19th release in the United States Mint Presidential $1 Coin Program, authorized by the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005. The coin’s obverse (heads side) bears a bold portrait of former President Hayes by United States Mint Sculptor–Engraver Don Everhart with the inscriptions RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, IN GOD WE TRUST, 19TH PRESIDENT and 1877–1881. The coin’s reverse (tails side), also by Everhart, features a dramatic rendition of the Statue of Liberty with the inscriptions $1 and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The inscriptions E PLURIBUS UNUM, 2011 and the mintmark (“P” or “D”) are incused on the coin’s edge.
Rutherford B. Hayes was born in Ohio in 1822. He was educated at Kenyon College and Harvard Law School. At the onset of the Civil War, Hayes volunteered his services and was appointed to the rank of major. When he was discharged in 1865, Hayes, who was wounded in action four times, was promoted to the rank of major general for “gallant and distinguished services.” While he was still in the Army, Hayes was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served until 1867. Subsequently, he served three terms as the Governor of Ohio. In 1876, Hayes became the Republican candidate for President. Despite losing the national popular vote, he prevailed by one vote in the Electoral College, becoming the Nation’s 19th President. Hayes announced in advance that he would serve only one term. True to his word, he retired to Spiegel Grove at the end of his term in 1881. He died in 1893.
The United States Mint, created by Congress in 1792, is the Nation’s sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage and is responsible for producing circulating coinage for the Nation to conduct its trade and commerce. The United States Mint also produces proof, uncirculated and commemorative coins; Congressional Gold Medals; and silver, gold and platinum bullion coins.