History of the Presidio

[Music] most people think of the precidio in San Francisco as the large military complex that was built between the two World Wars but the place actually has a rich history that goes back more than a thousand years the site was the home to a native people known as the olone when the Spanish arrived in 1776 the Spanish built missions houses and a military Garrison known as a prido in Spanish the purpose of the Spanish presidios was to maintain Law and Order in the new Spanish settlements and to protect the coast from any British or Russian invasion the Spanish presence eventually grew to five missions and four pblos or towns in the Bay Area which would become the city of San Francisco in 1821 after the Mexican Revolution the precidio was occupied by Mexican soldiers then during the war between the United States and Mexico American soldiers landed in 1846 and captured the Bay Area in the years to follow the city of San Francisco would experience a rapid growth after wave upon wave of immigrants began arriving from Russia China and other Asian countries during the Gold Rush of California when the first buildings of the current precidio were built the population of the region was boosted even further much to the dismay of Native American tribes skirmishes ensued after which which the precidio became the Central Command Center for raids against Indian tribes throughout the Northwest in 1906 at the peak of its growth San Francisco was devastated by a massive earthquake though the precidio was damaged as well Army Personnel quickly built 20 separate tent camps that served as a shelter for more than 30,000 refugees the soldiers also offered food and Medical Services ever since the precidio has had a special place in the heart of San franciscans in 1915 San Francisco hosted the Panama Pacific International Exposition an event which marked the recovery of the city after the earthquake despite the outbreak of World War I millions of visitors came to the city to see such wonders as the Palace of Fine Arts the Presidio provid provided additional security for visitors to the exposition one of the pridal commanding officers General persing was appointed to lead the American expeditionary forces sent to Europe during World War I while in France he became a personal hero of Waltz who tried very hard to meet him in person the period between the wars saw a large expansion at the precidio after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor it became the headquarters for the Western Defense command in the 1950s the precidio became the headquarters of the 6th US Army only in 1989 near the end of the Cold War did the Pentagon decide to close the precidio and transfer the buildings to the National Park Service a few years from now one of these beautiful and historically important buildings will become the Walt Disney Family Museum at the [Music] precidio

Channel: The Walt Disney Family Museum

Views: 18,931

Keywords: History, of, the, Presidio

Id: 1iHoWTD9Hc0

Length: 4min 17sec (257 seconds)

Published: Thu May 19 2011