BEP Directors

Louis Hill was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended Columbian University (now The George Washington University) in Washington, DC.  He worked as an engraver in Philadelphia before beginning work at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1900.  (Hill’s father, John R. Hill, also worked as an engraver at the BEP for over 30 years, from 1882 to 1913.)  He became the Assistant Chief of the Engraving Division in 1913.  As a result of President Harding’s surprise executive order dismissing Director James Wilmeth and 28 other top officials from the BEP, Hill was elevated to the Director’s position in 1922.  He served for about two years but resigned to allow Wilmeth, who had been exonerated and offered reappointment, to return as Director.  Despite Wilmeth’s refusal to return, Hill let his resignation stand.  Little is known of Hill after his departure from the BEP in 1924 until his death in 1933 in Washington, DC.