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Where Dollar Bills Come From : Planet Money Every dollar bill in the world comes from the same paper mill in Massachusetts. Today on the show, we get a front-row seat to the dollar-making process. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

Planet Money

Where Dollar Bills Come From

By 

David Kestenbaum

, 

Where Dollar Bills Come From

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The same mill in Massachusetts has been making U.S. dollar bills for over 130 years. Robert Benincasa/NPR hide caption

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Robert Benincasa/NPR

The same mill in Massachusetts has been making U.S. dollar bills for over 130 years.

Robert Benincasa/NPR

This episode originally ran in 2012.

Every single dollar bill in the world — every $20, every $100, everything — is printed on paper made at one small mill in Massachusetts. That's been the case for over 130 years.

On today's show, we visit the mill. We hear the story of the guy who jumped out of a hotel window to win the government contract to print all that paper. And we ask: Will anybody be using paper money in 50 years?

For more: Read David Kestenbaum's FOIA appeal and the Treasury Department's response.

Music: "Soul Sitar" and "Croisette Balade."

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