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The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former military base 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 it to gain a foothold on Alta California and the San Francisco Bay. It passed to Mexico, which in turn passed it to the United States in 1848.[6] As part of a 1989 military reduction program under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, Congress voted to end the Presidio's status as an active military installation of the U.S. Army. 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.[7]
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%.[8] In a first-of-its-kind structure, Congress mandated that the Presidio Trust make the Presidio financially self-sufficient by 2013, which it achieved 8 years ahead of the scheduled deadline.[9]
The park is characterized by 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.[4][5]
The visitor centers are operated by the National Park Service:
Crissy Field Center (former 1 1⁄2-mile (2.4 km) San Francisco shore to a broader number of Presidio residents and visitors.
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. In 1783, the Presidio's garrison numbered only 33 men.
The Presidio was seized by the U.S. Military in 1846, at the start of the John Pershing made their homes here.
During its long history, the Presidio was involved in most of America's military engagements in the Pacific. Importantly, it was the assembly point for Army forces that invaded the Philippines in the Spanish-American War, America's first major military engagement in the Asia/Pacific region.
The Presidio was the center for defense of the Western U.S. during World War II. The infamous order to intern Japanese-Americans, including citizens, during World War II was signed at the Presidio. Until its closure in 1995, the Presidio was the longest continuously operated military base in the United States.
From 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 are: General Fedreick Funston, hero of the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, commanding officer of the Presidio at the time of the 1906 earthquake; General Irvin McDowell, Union Army commander who was defeated by the Confederates in the first battle of Bull Run (or Manassas).
The Marine Hospital operated a cemetery for merchant seamen approximately 100–250 yards (91–229 m) from the hospital property. Based on city municipal records, historians estimate that the cemetery was in use from 1885 to 1912.[12] 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.[13]
The Presidio also has four creeks, that are currently being restored by park stewards and volunteers to expand the former extents of their riparian habitats. The creeks are Lobos and Dragonfly creeks, El Polin Spring, and Coyote Gulch.
After a hard-fought battle, the Presidio averted being sold at auction and came under the management of the Presidio Trust, a US Government Corporation established by an act of Congress in 1996.[9][18]
The Presidio Trust now manages most of the park in partnership with the National Park Service. The Trust has jurisdiction over the interior 80 percent of the Presidio, including nearly all of 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 main objectives of Presidio Trust's program was achieving financial self-sufficiency by fiscal year 2013. Thanks to rents from residential and commercial tenants, this happened well ahead of schedule, in 2006. Immediately after its inception, the Trust began preparing rehabilitation plans for the park. Many areas had to be decontaminated before they could be prepared for public use.
The Presidio Trust Act calls for "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 of preserving 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. As of 2007, there was only a rudimentary visitors' center to orient visitors to the Presidio's history.
Crissy Field, a former airfield, has undergone extensive restoration and now serves as very 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 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, Internet Archive, the Arion Press, Sports Basement Presidio, and The Walt Disney Family Museum, a museum in the memory of Walt Disney.[19] Many various commercial enterprises also lease buildings on the Presidio, including, recently, Starbucks Coffee. The San Francisco Art Institute maintained a small student housing program in the Presidio's MacArthur neighborhood from 2002 to 2007.
Sections of the Letterman Army Hospital were preserved by the Thoreau Center for Sustainability.[20]
The Presidio of San Francisco is the only U.S. national recreation area with an extensive residential leasing program.
The Trust entered a major agreement with In 2007, Donald Fisher, founder of the Gap clothing stores and former Board member of the Presidio Trust, announced a plan to build a 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2) museum tentatively named the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio, to house his art collection. Fisher's plan encountered widespread skepticism and even outright hostility amongst San Francisco preservationists, local residents, the National Park Service, the Presidio Trust, and city officials who saw the Presidio site as 'hallowed ground.'[21] Due to such criticism, 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 his death in 2009.[22][23] As the Doyle Drive viaduct was deemed seismically unsafe and obsolete, in 2008, construction was started on the demolition of Doyle Drive which is to be replaced with a flat, broad-lane highway with a tunnel through the bluffs above Crissy Field, called the Presidio Parkway. The project costs $1 billion and is scheduled to be completed by 2016.[24][25] Presidio Parkway construction seen from Storey Ave. in October 2013. 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 trails expansion plan that will add 24 miles (39 km) of new pathways and eight scenic overlooks throughout the park. In October 2008, artist Andy Goldsworthy constructed a new sculpture "Spire" in the Presidio. It is 100 feet (30 m) tall and located near the Arguello Gate. It represents the tree replanting effort that has been underway at the Presidio.[26] As the Presidio has reached a point of self-sufficiency, the final set of buildings is under renovation. Fort Scott will be home to the new National Center for Service and Innovative Leadership. In July 2013, the first youth program was piloted at the Center in partnership with the National Youth Leadership Council. The National Youth Leadership Training serves a diverse mix of high school aged students from across the country to develop leadership skills and learn about educational inequity in America. Popular culture The Presidio has been featured several times in the media of popular culture: In the fictional universe of Star Trek, the Presidio is the location of Starfleet Academy, while the Fort Baker cantonment (opposite the Presidio) and the Marin Headlands are the grounds of Starfleet Command. In the final episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Admiral Janeway points out to her present-day self that the USS Voyager is preserved and located on the grounds of the Presidio. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Kirk and Spock have a discussion while walking on the shore adjacent to Fort Point in present-day 1986. The Presidio, a 1988 American crime thriller movie starring Mark Harmon, Sean Connery, and Meg Ryan is set in and around the military base. As seen in the 2004 Metallica movie, Some Kind of Monster, the band members start recording their new album St. Anger at the Presidio in January 2001. The Presidio appeared as Paradiso in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The 2005 television movie Murder at the Presidio is loosely based on actual events. The Presidio was featured in the Sci-fi Channel reality show, Ghost Hunters, on October 3, 2007 in the episode entitled "Spirits of San Francisco." The Presidio was featured as a racing track in the 1999-2000 video game San Francisco Rush 2049 The Presidio was modeled in a map in the 2003 video game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3. On their 2008 self-titled album, band This Will Destroy You performed a song called "Burial on the Presidio Banks". See also 49-Mile Scenic Drive Military Districts in Spanish California Sinforosa Amador (1788–1841) - Born, baptized and married at the Presidio. Rancho San Ramon (Amador) References ^ a b "Presidio (Crissy Field) neighborhood in San Francisco, California (CA), 94129 detailed profile". Retrieved 2012-08-05. ^ "Presidio of San Francisco". ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. ^ a b NHL Summary. ^ a b "Presidio of San Francisco". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-10-14. ^ "Under Three Flags" (pdf). ^ "Presidio of San Francisco Post to Park transition". National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-12-20. ^ "The Presidio Trust". ^ a b Levy, Dan (June 19, 2005). "A Green Belt in The Black". ^ Cabanatuan, Michael (8 May 2012). "Golden Gate Bridge's 1st visitor center to open". ^ "Crissy Field Center". ^ McCann, Jennifer (2006). "The Marine Hospital Cemetery, Presidio of San Francisco, California" (pdf). The Presidio Archaeology Center. ^ "The Marine Hospital Cemetery". The Presidio Trust. Retrieved 14 September 2012. ^ "K. T. Khlĕbnikov: A Look at a Half-Century of My Life". ^ "The Presidio Trust". Urban Ecosystems 1 (3): 133. 1997. Retrieved 2012-08-05. (subscription required) ^ "Sna Francisco's Proud Presidio". ^ "Privatizing the Presidio". ^ "Title unknown". ^ "The Walt Disney Family Museum". Retrieved 2012-08-05. ^ "Thoreau Center for Sustainability San Francisco". Retrieved 2012-08-05. ^ King, John (March 18, 2008). "Architect waxes poetic with Presidio museum". ^ King, John (July 2, 2009). "Fishers give up on plan for Presidio art museum". ^ Baker, Kenneth (October 2, 2009). "SFMOMA gets Fisher art collection". ^ Cabanatuan, Michael (January 12, 2010). "Closure of Doyle Drive off-ramp goes smoothly". ^ "Presidio Parkway Construction Schedule". presidioparkway.org. Retrieved September 13, 2014. ^ Spire" by Andy Goldsworthy""". Presidio Trust web site. Retrieved 2009-09-05. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form and accompanying photos "Nomination Form" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 28 October 1992. "Photos (78)" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. August 1990. External links The National Park Service's official site of the Presidio The Presidio Trust The National Park Service's official site of the Golden Gate Recreation Area Moraga's Account of the Founding of San Francisco "Early History of the California Coast" National Park ServiceDiscover Our Shared Heritage "Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail" National Park Service The California State Military Museum, on the Letterman Army Hospital El Presidio Digital Media Archive (creative commons-licensed photos, laser scans, panoramas), mainly The Officer's Club and Fort Scott, using data from a UC Berkeley/CyArk research partnership Things to do in Presidio of San Francisco Fort Point and Presidio Historical Association Library of Congress: Americas Memory
In 2007, Donald Fisher, founder of the Gap clothing stores and former Board member of the Presidio Trust, announced a plan to build a 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2) museum tentatively named the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio, to house his art collection. Fisher's plan encountered widespread skepticism and even outright hostility amongst San Francisco preservationists, local residents, the National Park Service, the Presidio Trust, and city officials who saw the Presidio site as 'hallowed ground.'[21] Due to such criticism, 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 his death in 2009.[22][23]
As the Doyle Drive viaduct was deemed seismically unsafe and obsolete, in 2008, construction was started on the demolition of Doyle Drive which is to be replaced with a flat, broad-lane highway with a tunnel through the bluffs above Crissy Field, called the Presidio Parkway. The project costs $1 billion and is scheduled to be completed by 2016.[24][25]
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 trails expansion plan that will add 24 miles (39 km) of new pathways and eight scenic overlooks throughout the park.
In October 2008, artist Andy Goldsworthy constructed a new sculpture "Spire" in the Presidio. It is 100 feet (30 m) tall and located near the Arguello Gate. It represents the tree replanting effort that has been underway at the Presidio.[26]
As the Presidio has reached a point of self-sufficiency, the final set of buildings is under renovation. Fort Scott will be home to the new National Center for Service and Innovative Leadership. In July 2013, the first youth program was piloted at the Center in partnership with the National Youth Leadership Council. The National Youth Leadership Training serves a diverse mix of high school aged students from across the country to develop leadership skills and learn about educational inequity in America.
The Presidio has been featured several times in the media of popular culture:
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