Charles Cist (15 August 1738, in St. Petersburg, Russia – 2 December 1805, in Philadelphia) was an American printer.

He decided to emigrate to the Thirteen Colonies in 1769, at which time he adopted the surname Cist, the initials of his birth name.

Cist aided the colonial government during the revolution by endorsing large amounts of continental currency, which he was later compelled to redeem.

But he could not dispose of it, and was threatened with mob violence for trying to impose on the people with a lot of black stones for coal.

[2] In 1793 he was secretary of the Fame Fire Association, and announced that the society had procured a fire-escape apparatus to save persons from burning houses by means of a bucket drawn up to the top of the building.