The Presidio also became headquarters for the Western Defense Command for the west coast and Alaska, and the nearby Fort Mason Port of Embarkation shipped 1,, men to fight in the Pacific. As it became the largest debarkation hospital in the country, Letterman Hospital peaked at 72, patients in one year. In the s the Presidio served as the headquarters for Nike missile defense located around the Golden Gate, and headquarters for the famed Sixth U.
The Presidio of San Francisco was designated a National Historic Landmark in , with over buildings having historic value. Today, it is the only monetarily self-sustaining national park site in the country. The Presidio features historic buildings and structures including massive coastal batteries, vast miles of beaches and bluffs, Army-planted forests, and hiking and biking trails on its nearly acres.
It is one of the largest and most innovative preservation projects in the Nation. California Forts Photo Gallery. Forts Across the Nation. National Parks. Primary Menu Skip to content. El Presidio and Mission Dolores constructed at the same time were the first institutions built in what would become San Francisco.
It was continually used as a military base by the Spanish, Mexican, and American armies over the course of years. Most of the trees, especially the eucalyptus, were planted by the Army back in the 19th century, and some folks were not happy about it. The first prisoner to be convicted was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, prompting an outcry in the media. Even though it was closed up, ghost hunters used to break in. They claimed you could hear footsteps, see reflections of light, and sometimes feel a cold draft.
The Army agreed to house and feed the children until permanent homes were arranged, converting the drill hall into a nursery. Gorbachev opened an office in the Presidio in It was pretty symbolic and meaningful at the time—the Soviet Union had fallen only two years earlier, and the Presidio was still officially a military base until Regular Army took over the post the following year. This large military reservation at the Golden Gate developed into the most important Army post on the Pacific Coast.
Over time its armaments evolved from smooth bore cannons to modern missiles. It became the nerve center of a coastal defense system that eventually included Alcatraz and Angel Island and that reached as far north as the Marin Headlands and as far south as Fort Funston all these former military lands were later incorporated into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Also on the 1,acre reservation were a Coast Guard lifesaving station and a U. Public Health Service Hospital. The American Presidio looked in two directions. From the Spanish-American War of and the conquest of the Philippines to the end of the Vietnam War in , the Presidio was a key link in the projection of American military power into the Pacific Basin and further west onto the mainland of Asia. At the close of the nineteenth century, the Army began extensive forestation of the Presidio, turning grassy hills into dark forests that acted as windbreaks and also beautified the post.
In , the Presidio became an "open post" with civilian access, except during wartime. In , Hittell's Guide Book to San Francisco noted that "General McDowell, late commanding the Pacific military division of the national army, made fine roads through the Presidio reservation, planted trees, and commenced other improvements, so as to convert it into a public park, which, in time, may rival the Golden Gate Park in its attractions.
The Presidio offers a window into the changes in American society over a span of almost years. The Presidio is home to one of the nation's finest collections of fortifications, landscapes, buildings, structures and artifacts related to military history.
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