The word presidio derives from the Latin word praesidium,
which is what the Romans called their fortified camps. The San
Francisco Presidio was established by the Spanish in 1776. This
post was originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal
Presidio of San Francisco. 
An early Spanish military officer and explorer, Juan Bautista
de Anza, was ordered to establish permanent northern outposts. He
led a group of 240 soldiers, settlers, and monks to establish a site
for a presidio and a mission in what was then called Alta
California. This new colony at the bay of San Francisco would become
the northern most point of western North America. Upon finding the
perfect spot, de Anza marked the bluff overlooking the (now) Golden
Gate Bridge as the location for this presidio.
De Anza planted a cross in the ground to mark the site,
noting in his diary, on the extreme point of the white cliff at
the inner terminus of the mouth of the port. That location is
today’s Fort Point. Father Pedro Font, who blessed the cross that
day, wrote in his dairy that the site could be well settled like
Europe, there would not be anything more beautiful in the world. 
After de Anza went back to Mexico, his lieutenant selected a
different spot which was about a mile inland to the southeast. This
location was less exposed to the wind and closer to fresh water, but
not quite as strategic. A rough structure was erected out of
local materials, oak and mud, as a 250 yard compound circled by
walls and was dedicated on 17 September 1776. A
final and more solid enclosure, which took two years to complete,
boasted a chapel, the commandant’s headquarters, and a barrack for
troops. All the buildings surrounded a central courtyard.
In the meantime the colonists were ambitious to settle the
new area. As this Presidio and the Mission, known as Mission
Dolores were still under construction, these colonists held their
first mass under the shelter of branches on June 29th
1776. It was at this same time, on opposite far reaches of the
continent, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin
Franklin were working on their draft of an announcement that would
become this country’s Declaration of Independence.
The ear-mark date of 1776 marks the establishment of the
Presidio which parallels the official founding of our country.
This site location would ultimately become the city of San Francisco as we
know it today. This date offers a powerful suggestion of both a
geographical site and a historical event which evokes the historical
events surrounding the founding of our country. This military
outpost was the longest occupied military outpost in the United
States until the facility was transferred over to the National Park
Service in 1994.
History tells us that in 1822, due to the uprising of Mexico
against the Spaniards, the Mexicans assumed control of the Presidio.
After that time Russian, French, and English explorers followed to
this port to settle on the shores of the San Francisco Bay. Finally in 1846
the United States took over the post and by 1849 California ceded to
the Union paralleling the California Gold Rush.
From 1849 through 1994 the Presidio was a sprawling
military complex whose property consisted of two posts, an airfield, a
military cemetery, barracks, a fort, golf courses, a historical
museum, and coastal defense batteries. From the period of the Civil
War to WWII, Army officers of the past era had only three wishes: 1)
Make Colonel, 2) to die and go to heaven, and 3) to be posted at the
Presidio.
In 1994, when Congress transferred the
Presidio to the National Park Service, the Presidio was the
longest occupied military outpost in the United States. In
1998, the management of the Presidio, with the exception of the
coastal areas, was transferred to the Presidio Trust. All that remains of San
Francisco’s original Presidio, San Francisco’s oldest building, is
part of a wall incorporated into today’s Army Officers’ Club.
Reference material used in this compilation of the above
history are:
-
Tom Cole,
A
Short History of San Francisco. San Francisco: Don’t Call
it Frisco Press.
-
Gray Brechin,
Imperial San Francisco-Urban Power, Earthly Ruin. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
-
James Brook,
Chris Carlsson, and Nancy J. Peters editors, Reclaiming San
Francisco-History, Politics, Culture. San Francisco: City
Lights Books.
-
Rand Richards,
Historic San Francisco-A Concise History and Guide. Berkeley
-
George Rathmell,
Realms of Gold-The Colorful Writers of San Francisco
1850-1950. Berkeley: Creative Arts Book Company.
-
Frank Soule,
John H. Gihon. M.D., and James Nisbet, The Annals of San
Francisco. Berkeley: Berkeley Hills Books.
