Fort Knox

Fort Knox, Kentucky

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Fort Knox

•Fort Knox is located in Hardin County, Kentucky, the same county where Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809. •The North built the original military structures during the Civil War. •In 1918, the U.S. government purchased land to build a training camp. •The camp was named for Major General Henry Knox, chief of Artillery for the Continental Army during the American Revolution and later the nation's first Secretary of War. •In 1932 Congress changed the name to Fort Knox and used it mostly for training tank units. •In 1936 the U.S. Treasury Department began construction of the U.S. Bullion Depository. The Gold Vault opened in January 1937. •During World War II the Depository continued to operate at Fort Knox, receiving more and more shipments of the country's gold reserves. •The Gold Vault was also used to store and to safeguard the English crown jewels and the Magna Carta, along with the gold reserves of several of the countries of occupied Europe. •The Gold Vault also received the original documents of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence for safekeeping. •These historic documents left Fort Knox on October 1, 1944, and were returned to Washington DC for public display. •The Gold Depository currently holds more than 140 million ounces of gold, worth billions of dollars. Sources: U.S. Army, History Encyclopedia.

Fort Knox Vault (more images here)