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United States Bullion Depository

Kentucky, US

United States Bullion Depository

The United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox, is a fortified vault building located next to the United States Army post of Fort Knox, Kentucky. It is operated by the United States Department of the Treasury. The vault is used to store a large portion of the United States' gold rese

rves as well as other precious items belonging to or in custody of the federal government. It currently holds 147.3 million troy ounces (4,580 metric tons) of gold bullion, a little over half the total gold presently held by the federal government. The United States Mint Police protect the depository. The Treasury built the depository in 1936 on land transferred to it from the military. Its purpose was to house gold then stored in New York City and Philadelphia, in keeping with a strategy to move gold reserves away from coastal cities to areas less vulnerable to foreign military attack. The first set of gold shipments to the depository occurred during the first half of 1937. A second set was completed in 1941. These shipments, overseen by the United States Post Office Department, totaled roughly 417 million troy ounces (12,960 metric tons), almost two-thirds of the total gold reserves of...

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