• Pre-1776: The area was
Ohlone land. • 1776: Spanish Captain Juan Bautista de Anza led 193 soldiers, women, and children on a trek from present-day
Tubac, Arizona to San Francisco Bay. • September 17, 1776: The Presidio began as a Spanish
garrison to defend Spain's claim to San Francisco Bay and to support
Mission Dolores; it was the northernmost outpost of
New Spain in the declining
Spanish Empire. • 1794:
Castillo de San Joaquin, an
artillery emplacement was built above present-day Fort Point, San Francisco, complete with iron or bronze
cannon. Six cannons may be seen in the Presidio today. • 1776–1821: The Presidio was a simple fort made of adobe, brush, and wood. It was often damaged by earthquakes or heavy rains. In 1783, its company had only 33 men. Presidio soldiers' duties were to support Mission Dolores by controlling Indian workers in the Mission and farming, ranching, and hunting to supply themselves and their families. Support from Spanish authorities in Mexico was minimal. • 1821: Mexico became independent of Spain. The Presidio received even less support from Mexico. Residents of Alta California, which included the Presidio, debated separating from Mexico. • January 1827: Minor earthquake in San Francisco; some buildings were damaged extensively. • 1835: The Presidio garrison, led by
Mariano Vallejo, relocated to
Sonoma. A small detachment remained at the Presidio, which was in decline. • 1846: American settlers and adventurers in Sonoma staged the
Bear Flag Revolt against Mexican rule. Mariano Vallejo was imprisoned for a brief time. Lieutenant
John C. Fremont, a U.S. Army officer, with a small detachment of soldiers and frontiersmen, crossed the
Golden Gate in a boat to "capture" the Presidio unresisted. A cannon that Fremont spiked remains on the Presidio today. • 1846–1848: The
U.S. Army occupied the Presidio. The Presidio began a long era of directing operations to control and protect Native Americans as headquarters for scattered Army units on the West Coast. • 1853: Work was begun on Fort Point, which became a fine example of coastal defenses of its time. Fort Point, located at the foot of the Golden Gate in the Presidio, was the keystone of an elaborate network of fortifications to defend San Francisco Bay. These fortifications now reflect 150 years of military concern for the defense of the West Coast. • 1861–1865: The American Civil War involved the Presidio. Colonel
Albert Sydney Johnston protected Union weapons from being taken by Southern sympathizers in San Francisco. Later, he resigned from the Union Army and became a general in the
Confederate Army. He was killed at the
Battle of Shiloh. The Presidio organized regiments of volunteers for the Civil War and to control Indians in California and
Oregon during the absence of federal troops. • 1869–1870: Major General George Henry Thomas, an American Civil War hero, led the Division of the Pacific. General Thomas died in 1870 and was buried in
Troy, New York. • 1872–1873:
Modoc Indian Campaign involved some Presidio troops and command in this significant battle, the last large-scale U.S. Army operation against Native Americans in the Far West. • 1890–1914: Presidio soldiers became the nation's first "park rangers" by patrolling the new
Yosemite and
Sequoia National Parks. • 1898–1906: The Presidio became the nation's center for assembling, training, and shipping out forces to the Spanish–American War in the Philippine Islands and the subsequent Philippine–American War (Philippine Insurrection). Letterman Army Hospital was modernized and expanded to care for the many wounded and seriously ill soldiers from these campaigns. The Philippine campaign was an early major U.S. military intervention in the Asia/Pacific region.
Camp Merriam, located just north of the presidio, was established to train and house volunteers for service during the Spanish-American War. • 1903: President
Theodore Roosevelt visited the Presidio. His honor guard was from the
African American "
Buffalo Soldier"
9th Cavalry Regiment, then at the Presidio. This regiment took a role in Roosevelt's famous charge of
San Juan Hill in
Cuba. • 1906: The
San Francisco earthquake of April 1906 led to an immediate Army response directed by General
Frederick Funston, who had earned the
Medal of Honor for his bravery in the Philippines. Army units provided security and fought fires at the direction of the city government. After the fire that resulted from the earthquake, Presidio soldiers gave aid, food, and shelter to refugees. Temporary camps for refugees were set up in the Presidio. • 1912:
Fort Winfield Scott was established in the western part of the Presidio as a coast artillery post and the headquarters of the Artillery District of San Francisco. • 1914–1916: The Presidio Commander, General
John J. Pershing, commanded the
Mexican Punitive Expedition to eliminate the threat of
Pancho Villa, a Mexican rebel and bandit, who conducted raids across the U.S. border. General Pershing's family died in a tragic fire while he was away. As a result of the 1915 fire in General Pershing's quarters, the
Presidio Fire Department was established as the first fire station staffed 24 hours per day on a military post. • 1915: Part of the
Panama–Pacific International Exposition was located on the Presidio waterfront, which was expanded by a landfill for the purpose. Soldiers supported the Exposition with parades, honor guards, and artillery demonstrations. The Exposition was to celebrate the opening of the
Panama Canal. • 1917–1918: The Presidio rapidly expanded with new cantonments and training areas for World War I. Recruiting, training, and deploying units again become the Presidio's role. An officer training camp was located here. Quickly assembled buildings covered the waterfront area, and the railroad track into the Presidio was busy with wartime traffic. During the war, the
30th Infantry Regiment, "San Francisco's Own", whose motto, "OUR COUNTRY NOT OURSELVES", fought with distinction in World War I as a key fighting element of the 3rd Infantry Division who earned the title "Rock of the Marne". The 30th Infantry Regiment was frequently based at the Presidio. • 1918–1920: The Presidio was the center for forming and training the
American Expeditionary Force Siberia. This little-remembered force moved into Siberia during the
Russian Civil War. The mission of this force changed often. It encountered hostility from another part of the Expeditionary Force, Japan, while fighting bandits and protecting Allied civilians. • 1920–1932: The Presidio became home to
Crissy Field, the major pioneering
military aviation field located on the West Coast. Trailbreaking transpacific and transcontinental flights occurred here. At Crissy, future General "Hap" Arnold developed techniques for the new military aviation. Arnold later commanded the
Army Air Corps and
Army Air Forces in World War II. • 1939-1940: The
MacArthur Tunnel is constructed. • 1941–1946: World War II saw intense activity at the Presidio. It continued as a coordinating headquarters, deployment center, and training site, as it was for most of its existence. The Western Defense Command was responsible for the defense of the West Coast. This included supervising combat in the
Aleutian Islands for a time. The Presidio again was crowded with temporary barracks and training facilities. Letterman Army Hospital was filled with casualties. At one point, entire trains filled with war-wounded arrived at the Presidio from the battles of
Okinawa and
Iwo Jima. A Japanese Language School was set up to train Japanese Americans to be interpreters in the war against Japan. Ironically, some of these soldiers' families were interned in camps for the rest of the war while they performed bravely in the Pacific. • 1941–1945: The Commanding General of the
Western Defense Command, General
John L. DeWitt, responded to public hysteria directed against all Japanese on the West Coast. He recommended removing all Japanese, including citizens, from the Western Seaboard. The
Federal Bureau of Investigation and some Western politicians also expressed alarm, although no incidents of sabotage occurred. President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, to direct
removal of ethnic Japanese residents to internment camps. • 1946: After World War II, the Presidio command was redesignated the
Sixth Army under the leadership of General
Joseph Stilwell. Again, it was responsible for all U.S. Army forces in the Western U.S., including training, supplies, and deployment. It was also the federal agency that coordinated disaster relief by the military. During this year, President
Harry Truman had offered the Presidio as the site for the future
United Nations Headquarters. A United Nations Committee visited the Presidio to examine its suitability for the site, but the
UN General Assembly ultimately voted in favor of its current New York City location instead. • 1950–1953: The
Korean War tasked the Presidio's headquarters and support functions. Letterman Army Hospital was mobilized to care for casualties from the war. • 1951: The Presidio hosted ceremonies for signing the
ANZUS Treaty, a security pact of
Australia,
New Zealand, and the U.S. The
Japan-US security treaty was signed at the Presidio, while the Japanese Peace Treaty was signed in downtown San Francisco. • 1961–1973: The Presidio filled a supporting role during the
Vietnam War. Antiwar demonstrations took place at the Presidio's gates. • 1968: Richard Bunch shot, initiating the
Presidio mutiny at the Presidio stockade prison. The
XV Corps was deactivated. • 1969–1974: Letterman Army Hospital (LAMC) was modernized, and Letterman Army Institute of Research (LAIR) was built. • 1991: The Presidio sent its few remaining units to war for the last time in
Desert Storm, the First Gulf War. The role of the Sixth Army was the management of training and coordinating the deployment of
Army National Guard and
U.S. Army Reserve units in the Western U.S. for Operation Desert Storm. • 1994:
Sixth Army was inactivated, and the Presidio closed as an active U.S. Army installation per
BRAC. The Presidio was transferred to the National Park Service. • 1996: Presidio Trust was created to manage the park as part of the
Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 by the
104th United States Congress. • 1996–2009: The
Internet Archive's headquarters were located in Building 116 from its founding until 2009. • 2001: Letterman Army Hospital was demolished. Later, the
Letterman Digital Arts Center was constructed on the site. singing at ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Presidio Visitor Center • 2005:
The Bay School of San Francisco opens in Building 35. • 2009–2015:
Doyle Drive Replacement Project – Demolition of the Doyle Drive viaduct, to be replaced by an eight-lane boulevard, including two pairs of tunnels between Crissy Field and the Main Post and a pair of elevated viaducts, at a total project cost of approximately $1 billion. The original Doyle Drive was demolished on April 27–30, 2012. • 2017: The William Penn Mott Jr. Presidio Visitor Center was opened to the public and is meant to be a focal point for visitors to explore the of the Presidio grounds. The center is operated by the
National Park Service, the Presidio Trust, and the
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. • 2022: The Presidio Tunnel Tops are completed for a total cost of $100 million. ==See also==