Confederate Printing Plant

Front: From April 1864 to February 1865 Confederate bonds and currency were printed and processed in this building, constructed in 1863-64 for the printing and stationery firm of Evans & Cogswell. That firm, founded in Charleston, produced bonds and currency for the Confederacy throughout the war and moved to Columbia in 1863. The Confederate Treasury Note Bureau moved its headquarters here as well in the spring of 1864. Reverse: After 1864 Evans and Cogswell printed almost all bonds and currency for the Confederate Treasury. Many young women were employed here to sign and cut sheets as they came off the press. When Federal troops burned part of the building in February 1865 they carried off the printing plates and “an immense quantity” of currency. The building served as a warehouse for the state liquor dispensary system from 1895 to 1907.