Presidio of San Francisco explained

Presidio of San Francisco
Pushpin Map:United States San Francisco
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in San Francisco
Coordinates:37.7981°N -122.4658°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Type2:City-county
Subdivision Name2:San Francisco
Established Title:Fortified
Established Date:September 17, 1776
Government Type:Board of Supervisors
Unit Pref:US
Area Footnotes:[1]
Area Total Sq Mi:2.4
Population As Of:2019
Population Total:4,226
Population Density Sq Mi:auto
Timezone:Pacific
Utc Offset:−8
Timezone Dst:PDT
Utc Offset Dst:−7
Postal Code Type:ZIP code
Postal Code:94129
Area Code Type:Area codes
Area Code:415/628
Footnotes:
Embed:yes
Presidio of San Francisco
Nrhp Type:nhl
Area:1480acres[2]
Built:1776
Architect:Spanish/Mexico/United States Army
Architecture:Spanish Colonial, Spanish Revival, Colonial Revival, Classical Revival
Added:October 15, 1966
Designated Nrhp Type:June 13, 1962[3]
Refnum:66000232
Designated Other1:California
Designated Other1 Date:1933
Designated Other1 Number:79
Website:Presidio of San Francisco Presidio Trust

The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

It had been a fortified location since September 17, 1776, when New Spain established the presidio to gain a foothold in Alta California and the San Francisco Bay. It passed to Mexico in 1820, which in turn passed it to the United States in 1848.[4] As part of a military reduction program under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process from 1988, Congress voted to end the Presidio's status as an active military installation of the U.S. Army.[5] On October 1, 1994, it was transferred to the National Park Service, ending 219 years of military use and beginning its next phase of mixed commercial and public use.[6]

In 1996, the United States Congress created the Presidio Trust to oversee and manage the interior 80% of the park's lands, with the National Park Service managing the coastal 20%.[7] In a first-of-its-kind structure, Congress mandated that the Presidio Trust make the Presidio financially self-sufficient by 2013. The Presidio achieved the goal in 2005, eight years ahead of the deadline.[8]

The park has many wooded areas, hills, and scenic vistas overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. It was recognized as a California Historical Landmark in 1933 and as a National Historic Landmark in 1962.

History

Military use

The Presidio was originally a Spanish fort sited by Juan Bautista de Anza on March 28, 1776, built by a party led by José Joaquín Moraga later that year. The limestone used to build the presidio was mined by Ohlones at the Rockaway Quarry.[9] In 1783, the Presidio's garrison numbered only 33 men. Upon Mexican independence from Spain in 1821, it was briefly operated as a Mexican fortification. The Presidio was seized by the U.S. military at the start of the Mexican–American War in 1846. It was officially reopened by the Americans in 1848 and became home to several army headquarters and units, the last being the United States 6th Army. Several famous U.S. generals, such as William Tecumseh Sherman, George Henry Thomas, and John J. Pershing, made their homes here.

During its long history, the Presidio was involved in most of America's military engagements in the Pacific Rim. Importantly, it was the assembly point for army forces that invaded the Philippines during the Spanish–American War, America's first significant military engagement in the region.

Beginning in the 1890s, the Presidio was home to the Letterman Army Medical Center (LAMC), named in 1911 for Jonathan Letterman, the medical director of the Civil War–era Army of the Potomac. LAMC provided thousands of war-wounded with high-quality medical care during every US foreign conflict of the 20th century.

One of the last two remaining cemeteries within the city's limits is the San Francisco National Cemetery. Among the military personnel interred there are General Frederick Funston, hero of the Spanish–American War, Philippine–American War, and commanding officer of the Presidio at the time of the 1906 earthquake; and General Irvin McDowell, a Union Army commander who lost the First Battle of Bull Run.

The Marine Hospital operated a cemetery for merchant seamen approximately 100– from the hospital property. Based on city municipal records, historians estimate that the cemetery was used from 1885 to 1912.[10] As part of the "Trails Forever" initiative, the Parks Conservancy, the National Park Service, and the Presidio Trust partnered to build a walking trail along the south side of the site featuring interpretive signage about its history.[11]

The Presidio was the home of the Western Defense Command headquarters during World War II. It was here that Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt signed 108 Civilian Exclusion Orders and directives for the internment of Japanese Americans under the authority of Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942.[12]

The Presidio sent its few remaining units to war for the last time in 1991 for Desert Storm, the First Gulf War. The role of the Sixth Army was the management of training and coordinating deployment of Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve units in the Western U.S. for Operation Desert Storm.

Preservation

After a hard-fought battle, the Presidio averted being sold at auction and came under the management of the Presidio Trust, a U.S. government corporation established by an act of Congress in 1996.[13]

The Presidio Trust now manages most of the park in partnership with the National Park Service. The trust has jurisdiction over the interior of 80 percent of the Presidio, including nearly all its historic structures. The National Park Service manages coastal areas. Primary law enforcement throughout the Presidio is the jurisdiction of the United States Park Police.

One of the main objectives of the Presidio Trust's program was achieving financial self-sufficiency by fiscal year 2013, which was reached in 2006. Immediately after its inception, the trust began preparing rehabilitation plans for the park. Many areas had to be decontaminated before being prepared for public use.

The Presidio Trust Act calls for the "preservation of the cultural and historic integrity of the Presidio for public use." The Act also requires that the Presidio Trust be financially self-sufficient by 2013. These imperatives have resulted in numerous conflicts between the need to maximize income by leasing historic buildings and permitting public use despite most structures being rented privately. Further differences have arisen from the divergent needs to preserve the integrity of the National Historic Landmark District in the face of new construction, competing pressures for natural habitat restoration, and requirements for commercial purposes that impede public access.

Crissy Field, a former airfield, has undergone extensive restoration and is now a popular recreational area. It borders on the San Francisco Marina in the east and on the Golden Gate Bridge in the west.The park has a large inventory of approximately 800 buildings, many of them historical. By 2004, about 50% of the buildings on park grounds had been restored and partially remodeled. The Presidio Trust has contracted commercial real estate management companies to help attract and retain residential and commercial tenants. The total capacity is estimated at 5,000 residents when all buildings have been rehabilitated. Among the Presidio's residents is The Bay School of San Francisco, a private, coeducational college preparatory school located in the central Main Post area. Others include The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Tides Foundation, the Arion Press, Sports Basement Presidio, and The Walt Disney Family Museum, a museum in the memory of Walt Disney.[14] Many various commercial enterprises also lease buildings on the Presidio.

The Thoreau Center for Sustainability preserved sections of the Letterman Army Hospital .[15]

The Presidio of San Francisco is the only site in a national recreation area with an extensive residential leasing program.

The Presidio has four creeks that park stewards and volunteers are restoring to expand their riparian habitats' former extents. The creeks are Lobos and Dragonfly creeks, El Polin Spring, and Coyote Gulch.

1990s – present

The Trust entered a significant agreement with Lucasfilm to build a new facility called the Letterman Digital Arts Center (LDAC), which is now Lucasfilm's corporate headquarters. The site replaced portions of what was the Letterman Hospital. George Lucas won the development rights for of the Presidio, in June 1999, after beating out several rival plans, including a leading proposal by the Shorenstein Company. LDAC replaced the former Lucasfilm headquarters in San Rafael. The $300 million development includes nearly of office space and a 150000square feet underground parking garage with a capacity of 2,500 employees. Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic, Lucas Licensing, and Lucas Online divisions reside at the site. George Lucas's proposal included plans for a high-tech Presidio museum and a 7acres "Great Lawn" that is now open to the public.

In 2007, Donald Fisher, founder of the Gap clothing stores and former board member of the Presidio Trust, announced a plan to build a 100000square feet museum tentatively named the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio, to house his art collection. Due to opposition,[16] Fisher withdrew his plans to build the museum in the Presidio and instead donated the art to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art before he died in 2009.[17] [18]

As the Doyle Drive viaduct was deemed seismically unsafe and obsolete, construction started on the demolition of Doyle Drive in 2008 to replace the structure with a flat, broad-lane highway with a tunnel through the bluffs above Crissy Field, called the Presidio Parkway. The project cost $1 billion and was scheduled to be completed by 2016.[19] [20]

The Trust plans to create a promenade that will link the Lombard Gate and the new Lucasfilm campus to the Main Post and, ultimately, to the Golden Gate Bridge. The promenade is part of a trail expansion plan that will add of new pathways and eight scenic overlooks throughout the park.

In October 2008, artist Andy Goldsworthy constructed the first of a series of sculptures in the Presidio, the Spire. It is 100feet tall and located near the Arguello Gate. It represents the tree replanting effort that has been underway at the Presidio.[21] Spire was followed by Wood Line in 2011,[22] Tree Fall in 2013,[23] and Earth Wall in 2014.[24]

In 2010, a trampoline park called House of Air was built using an old aircraft hangar.[25]

As of 2023, it is estimated that there may be at least four coyote families living in the park.[26]

Presidio visitor centers

The visitor centers are operated by the National Park Service:

Crissy Field Center

Crissy Field Center (former Air Service/Air Corps/Army Air Forces airfield) is an urban environmental education center with programs for schools, public workshops, after-school programs, summer camps, and more. The center is operated by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and overlooks a restored tidal marsh. The facilities include interactive environmental exhibits, a media lab, a resource library, an art workshop, a science lab, a gathering room, a teaching kitchen, a café, and a bookstore.[29] The landscape of Crissy Field was designed by George Hargreaves. The project restored a naturally functioning and sustaining tidal wetland as a habitat for flora and fauna, previously not in the site's evidence. It also restored a historic grass airfield that became a culturally significant military airfield between 1919 and 1936. The park at Crissy Field expanded and widened the recreational opportunities of the existing NaNmiles San Francisco shore to a broader number of Presidio residents and visitors.

Presidio Tunnel Tops

A major component of the Presidio's park attractions is the Presidio Tunnel Tops, which has created a 14adj=midNaNadj=mid on top of the tunneled portions of Doyle Drive.[30] [31] The park contains several meadows and walking trails, along with viewpoints for major landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge. Negotiations between Caltrans, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, and the Presidio Trust to finalize the land transfer for the park lasted from 2015 to 2018.[30] The budget for the park is $100 million, funded with public funds from the Presidio Trust and private contributions. The park opened for public use on July 17, 2022.[31]

Timeline

See also

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Census Tract 601, San Francisco, CA . October 27, 2020.
  2. Web site: Presidio of San Francisco . . https://web.archive.org/web/20090325141914/http://www.nr.nps.gov/writeups/66000232.nl.pdf . 2009-03-25 . 2012-01-17.
  3. http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceID=136&resourceType=District NHL Summary
  4. Web site: Under Three Flags . . 2012-01-17.
  5. Book: USAMRMC: 50 Years of Dedication to the Warfighter : 1958-2008 . 121 . U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command Headquarters . 2008.
  6. Web site: Presidio of San Francisco Post to Park transition . National Park Service . 2008-12-20.
  7. Web site: The Presidio Trust . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120214103051/http://www.presidio.gov/trust/ . February 14, 2012 .
  8. News: A Green Belt in The Black . . Dan . Levy . June 19, 2005 . 2008-12-20.
  9. Web site: Historic Resource Study for Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Mateo County. . National Park Service . Department of Interior . 4 August 2023.
  10. Web site: McCann. Jennifer. 2006. The Marine Hospital Cemetery, Presidio of San Francisco, California. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120309162023/http://www.presidio.gov/NR/rdonlyres/C44EF70A-582E-4F00-976C-4EA2F06AE09C/0/MHCreportpart1accessible.pdf. March 9, 2012. The Presidio Archaeology Center.
  11. Web site: The Marine Hospital Cemetery. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120916025756/http://www.presidio.gov/explore/trails/Pages/marine-cemetery-vista.aspx. September 16, 2012. September 14, 2012. The Presidio Trust.
  12. Web site: Remembering Executive Order 9066 - Golden Gate National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service). 22 September 2020. National Park Service.
  13. News: Title unknown. The Wall Street Journal.
  14. Web site: The Walt Disney Family Museum. 2012-08-05.
  15. Web site: Thoreau Center for Sustainability San Francisco. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120711235754/http://www.thoreau.org/san-francisco/index.html. 2012-07-11. 2012-08-05.
  16. News: King. John. March 18, 2008. Architect waxes poetic with Presidio museum. San Francisco Chronicle. 2012-08-05.
  17. News: King. John. July 2, 2009. Fishers give up on plan for Presidio art museum. San Francisco Chronicle. 2012-08-05.
  18. News: Baker. Kenneth. October 2, 2009. SFMOMA gets Fisher art collection. San Francisco Chronicle. 2012-08-05.
  19. News: Cabanatuan. Michael. January 12, 2010. Closure of Doyle Drive off-ramp goes smoothly. San Francisco Chronicle. 2012-08-05.
  20. Web site: . Presidio Parkway Construction Schedule. September 13, 2014. presidioparkway.org. July 20, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140720074749/http://www.presidioparkway.org/construction_info/schedule.aspx. dead.
  21. Web site: "Spire" by Andy Goldsworthy. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090512192134/http://www.presidio.gov/experiences/spire.htm. May 12, 2009. 2009-09-05. Presidio Trust web site.
  22. Web site: Andy Goldsworthy's Wood Line . The Presidio Trust . 2011 . 1 May 2020 .
  23. Web site: Andy Goldsworthy's Tree Fall . The Presidio Trust . 2014 . 1 May 2020 .
  24. Web site: Andy Goldsworthy's Earth Wall . The Presidio Trust . 2014 . 1 May 2020 .
  25. Web site: Presidio House of Air brings flight to the flightless. blog.sfgate.com.
  26. Web site: Coyotes in the Presidio . 2023-07-18 . Presidio . en.
  27. News: Cabanatuan . Michael . Golden Gate Bridge's 1st visitor center to open . . May 8, 2012 . 2012-05-13.
  28. News: Krupa . Maya . Hidden Presidio Outdoor Track . 2017-10-08.
  29. Web site: Crissy Field Center . . 2012-05-01.
  30. News: Above the bay, Presidio Tunnel Tops includes meadows, picnic areas, overlooks, daily mobile food and beverage vendors, and a youth area that includes the Field Station, Crissy Field Center, and the Outpost - a nature play area. San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle. J.K.. Dineen. 2018-06-13. 2018-06-20.
  31. Web site: Frequently Asked Questions. Presido Trust. 2018-06-20.
  32. K. T. Khlĕbnikov: A Look at a Half-Century of My Life . . 1836 . 311–312.
  33. Web site: Camp Merriam . Historic California Posts, Camps, Stations and Airfields . militarymuseum.org.
  34. Web site: Presidio Garrison . Presidio of San Francisco . National Park Service . 26 August 2018.
  35. Web site: Buffalo Soldiers: The First African American 'Park Rangers' . Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy . 26 August 2018. February 2016 .
  36. The Presidio Trust . Urban Ecosystems . 1997 . 1 . 3 . 133 . 10.1023/A:1018519410163 . Walbridge . Mark R. . 9853002 .
  37. News: San Francisco's Proud Presidio . . December 17, 1946 . 2012-08-05 . 2016-01-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160123001901/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19461216&id=JRwaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9yQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2700,422600 . dead .
  38. Web site: New Presidio Visitor Center Debuts Saturday, February 25, 2017. www.nps.gov.
  39. Web site: New Presidio Visitor Center Debuts Saturday, February 25 - Golden Gate National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service. www.nps.gov).
  40. Web site: Presidio Visitor Center - Presidio of San Francisco (U.S. National Park). www.presidio.gov.