光緒年間，鑒于西方銀元的涌入，出現(xiàn)銀元套購白銀，致使白銀大量外流。朝野紛紛提出自鑄銀元。清光緒十三年(1887),李鴻章捷足先登，在北洋機器局內(nèi)，設(shè)立寶津局，調(diào)來部分設(shè)備，并購買了英國的造錢機器設(shè)備等。光緒十六年(1890),建成了中國第一個近代鑄幣廠，又稱北洋機器局鑄錢局。這是中國近代鑄造銀元之始。
在北洋機器局鑄錢的同時，各省也在設(shè)立鑄錢局。所造銀錢，式樣各異，成色不一，成為商民之累。為了統(tǒng)一鑄造新式銀錢，清政府諭令建立鑄錢總廠。為此，于光緒二十九年(1903)十一月十六日，在天津建立北洋銀元局。任命周學(xué)熙為總辦，局機關(guān)設(shè)在宇緯路(今鐵路第一小學(xué))。
銀元局下屬的造幣廠，先是建在西窯洼護衛(wèi)宮(今天緯路26號),稱銀元局鑄幣西廠。先鑄造銅元，隨又鑄造銀元。光緒三十一年(1905)五月，官方又購得土地128畝，在大經(jīng)路(今中山路天津外貿(mào)華益公司附近) ,建成戶部造幣總廠(也稱東廠)投產(chǎn)。所用機器是美國制造，每日可生產(chǎn)大小銅、銀元60萬枚。這是全國規(guī)模最大、設(shè)備最完善的近代化造幣廠。
宣統(tǒng)元年(1909),清廷將各省造幣廠合并成9個分廠，天津造幣廠為總廠，并頒布《造幣廠章程》。隨后，天津鑄幣西廠，也并入天津造幣總廠。這樣，天津的戶部造幣總廠，成為全國的貨幣制造中心。
造幣總廠初期，主要是制造銅元，發(fā)行全國。正面外圈為滿文大清紀(jì)年和相當(dāng)制錢若干，中間有“大清銅幣”字樣； 反面外圈為英文“光緒年造” ,中間為團龍圖案。
民國以后，袁世凱在這里鑄造了大批銀元“袁大頭” 。1928年北洋軍閥政權(quán)垮臺，天津造幣總廠癱瘓。1933年國民政府在上海設(shè)立中央造幣廠，天津造幣總廠結(jié)束了其歷史使命。

·北洋銀元局碾片車間

During the reign of Emperor Guangxu,western silver coins flooded in China. Theillegal buy-out of silver incurred muchloss to China. People from the governmentand the pullic all proposed to cast silvercoins by China itself. In 1887,Li Hongzhang setup the Baojin Bureau in Northern Machinery Bureau.He bought mint machinery from UK and transferredsome facilities. In 1890,the Mint Bu reau was set up inNorthern Machinery Bureau,which was the first mint inChina. This was also the first time of casting silver coinsin modern China.
Meanwhile,other provinces were setting up mintbureaus. The silver money was in different style andcontents,which brought much inconvenience to thebusinessmen and the people. To cast unified silvermoney,the Qing Government decided to set up theGeneral Mint. On November 16,1903,Northern SilverBureau commenced operation in Tianjin. Zhou Xuexiwas the General Officer. The bureau was located atYuwei Road (now No. 1 Primary School of Railway).

The mint owned by the Northern Silver Bureau wasconstructed at Hunwei Palace,Xiyaowa (now No 26 ofTianwei Road),which was named WesternMint.Itproduced copper coins andthensilver coins. In May,1905,a piece of landof 128 mu at Dajing Road was purchasedto construct the General Mint (or EasternMint) of the Board of Revenue and Population. Allmachinery was made in US. The mint could produce 600thousand copper money and 600 thousand silver coins aday. It was the largest and most advanced mint in China.
In 1909,the mints in different provinces weremerged to 9 branches of Tianjin General Mint bythe Qing Government. The Mint Principles werepromulgated. Tianjin Western Mint was also a part ofTianjin General Mint. General Mint of the Board ofRevenue and Population became the center of coincasting in China.
In the beginning,the General Mint mainly producedcopper coins and issued all over China. On the front sideof the coin,the outer circle showed the year of QingDynasty`s and the quantity of the coins cast. Its centerwas "Copper coin of The Qing Dynasty". On the backside,the outer circle was "Made in Guanxu`s Reign" inEnglish. Its center was the picture of a group of dragons.
After Yuan Shikai became the President of theRepublic of China,he cast a lot of silver coins withhis head portrait on them. In 1928,the Tianjin GeneralMint got bankrupt with the step-down of the Beiyangwarlords. In 1933,the Kuomintang Government set upCentral Mint in Shanghai. The history of Tianjin GeneralMint came to an end.

·1902建的天津造幣廠(原天緯路中段)