What is Fort Knox?
Despite the popularity of the name, the actual facility where gold is stored is not called Fort Knox. Rather, it is officially known as the United States Bullion Depository. The location of the building to the city of Fort Knox, Kentucky, however, has led many people to refer to it by its more common name. Put simply, Fort Knox is a facility where the United States stores large gold reserves as well as other precious items that belong to the country or that have been entrusted to the country for safekeeping. According to experts, approximately 4,176 metric tons of gold are stored at the facility. Unbelievably, this is not the largest gold reserve in the United States. Rather, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan is home to an underground vault containing approximately 5,000 metric tons of gold. This gold is held in trust for central banks, foreign nations and other official international organizations.
