A part of the much larger Golden Gate Recreational Area, the Presidio was once a sprawling military base located toward the western end of the San Francisco Peninsula. The region covers a landmass of some 2.3 square miles and has been recognized as a national park since 1996. The Presidio of San Francisco has received several historical designations throughout its history, becoming a California Historical Landmark in 1993 and a National Historical Landmark in 1962. It connects directly to the historic Golden Gate Bridge, which specifically passes by its northernmost installation—Fort Point National Historic Site. Most of the surviving historic structures reside within a section of the Presidio known as the “Main Post.” The Main Parade Ground resides just to the east of the Main Post, while Fort Winfield Scott resides to the west. Other locations that define the eastern side of the Presidio include the former grounds of Letterman Army Hospital and the San Francisco National Cemetery. The historic structures affiliated with the once active Crissy Field lie next to Fort Winfield Scott. A ring of enclosed concreate field guns line the Presidio’s coastline, including Battery Chamberlin, Battery East, and Battery Marcus Miller. Yet, the Presidio of San Francisco doubles today as a massive nature preserve, filled with dozens of hiking trails and scenic overlooks. Perhaps its most famous outdoor attraction is the majestic Marshall’s Beach. Thousands of recently planted trees also call the Presidio home, with such species like eucalyptus, pine, and cypress filling the southern end of the park in large numbers. But other, privately owned cultural attractions have populated the Presidio of San Francisco in recent years, such as The Walt Disney Family Museum.

The history of the Presidio is immense, far too great to cover in great detail here. Nonetheless, it was formally founded in 1776, when Lieutenant Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza—a Spanish colonial subject—ordered a cross erected on the Punta del Cantil Blanco just above the mouth of San Francisco Bay. By raising the cross, de Anza had followed conventional Spanish protocol to set aside land for official military development. He had hoped that the heights would be sufficient to guard against any encroachments by rival European powers that wanted to inhabit the region. Juan Bautista de Anza soon dispatched his second-in-command, Jose Moraga, to lead an expedition from present-day Arizona to the site for its settlement. The installation that Moraga’s men created was nothing more than a small adobe building surrounded by a few quaint agricultural structures that they christened as “El Presidio Real de San Francisco.” Constructed alongside the Mission San Francisco de Asis, the military installation functioned more as an outpost for the distant Viceroyalty of New Spain (now modern-day Mexico). Life was often difficult for the soldiers of the garrison, as they received little government support. As a result, they engaged in activities like farming and hunting just as much as their normal military duties. Their situation became a bit better in the 1790s, though, when the garrison developed an imposing coastal battery called the “Castillo de San Joaquin.” Manned by half-a-dozen cannons, it greatly enhanced the soldiers’ ability to deter the British and the Russians from invading the bay.

For the next two decades, the citadel protected the entrance into San Francisco Bay on behalf of the Spanish Empire, until Mexico achieved its independence in 1821. Despite news of the event taking a full year to reach the outpost, the soldiers declared its loyalty to the new Mexican government. Yet, the Presidio became even more remote, as its garrison gradually left for bases further to the south. The largest exodus occurred under Mariano Vallejo, who led all but a squad of soldiers to nearby Sonoma in 1835. But the decision to relocate the garrison several hundred miles away proved costly, as American forces easily captured the structure at the onset of the Mexican-American War. Originally inhabited by a unit of cavalry, a few companies of the 1st New York Volunteer Regiment moved into the crumbling Presidio in 1847. From the base, they served as an occupational unit that coordinated the defense of the entire bay region, thus beginning the Presidio’s role in presiding over the protection of the western United States. This responsibility was further augmented when thousands of Americans flooded the region at the start of the California Gold Rush in 1849. The U.S. Army—which had formally assumed control over the base around the same time—began an arduous reconstruction project that saw the Presidio slowly transform into a sounder military installation. The old Castillo de San Joaquin was replaced with Fort Point, while the heavily forested region immediately to the south was cleared to make way for new administrative buildings. The Presidio quickly became the nerve center for the defenses ringing San Francisco, directing orders to such faraway places like the Marin Headlands and Fort Funston.

After the American Civil War, the Presidio of San Francisco underwent a series of several massive expansions that saw its size increase tenfold over the next fifty years. The War Department approved plans to erect a new series of coastal defense batteries with Fort Point at its center. It also commissioned the creation of the many buildings that constituted the Presidio’s Main Post, including around a dozen barracks built along its iconic Main Parade Ground. Further developments occurred around the start of the 20th century, including the creation of the Letterman Army Hospital (1898) and Fort Winfield Scott (1912). Among the last greatest additions to the Presidio was Crissy Field in 1921, which was a pioneering military aviation center operated by the legendary Henry “Hap” Arnold. By this point, the Presidio had become one of the five largest military bases in the entire country. Letterman Army Hospital alone was the U.S. Army’s biggest facility, capable of several thousand patients at once. It also served as the most important Army base along the West Coast, functioning as the primary training, supply, and embarkation post for soldiers destined to serve overseas in the Pacific. This trend began in earnest in 1898, when the War Department sent thousands of servicemen to the Philippines via the Presidio during the Spanish-American War. The Army continued to rely on the Presidio in such a way throughout the 20th century, using it to funnel units to Asia in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It even briefly served as the headquarters for both the Fourth and Sixth U.S. Armies, which presided over the entire national defense apparatus of the western United States at various points in time.

When the Cold War finally wound down in the 1980s, Congress started drafting plans that looked toward demobilizing much of America’s standing military. Those plans included the deactivation of the country’s military bases, save for the most critical. Congress outlined the particular aspects of its strategy within its Base Realignment and Closure program, which ultimately decommissioned some 350 military installations throughout the United States. The Presidio of San Francisco was among the first to be shuttered, though, considered to be non-essential in 1989. Congress formally voted to close the facility some five years later, ending the Presidio’s three-century-long career as a military base. It then turned over to the Presidio to the National Park Service to operate as one of its parks. But, in 1996, Congress decided to create the Presidio Trust to help oversee much of the Presidio’s management. As such, the Presidio Trust was left in charge of most of the site, while the National Park Service retained direct control over the shoreline. Congress also mandated that the Presidio Trust become fully self-sufficient, which it achieved completely in 2005. Now one of San Francisco’s most iconic destinations, the Presidio of San Francisco has a history that few other places in the United States can claim to possess.

Tom Simpson and Herbert Fowler: While many golf course architects have worked on the Presidio Golf Course over the years, the firm of Tom Simpson and Herbert Fowler arguably left the greatest impact. One part of the duo, Herbert Fowler, was an accomplished athlete who had first made a name for himself playing cricket during his youth. But Fowler had also found prominence as one of the partners managing “Fox Bros. Fowler & Co. Bank.” Fowler himself first discovered the game of golf at the Royal North Devon while out on business in 1879. Taking to it quickly, he practiced the game obsessively at a facility known as “Westward Ho!” and began competing in amateur competitions. Indeed, Fowler was soon making top finishes at several tournaments, including the British Open and the Amateur Championship. He was even selected to help represent England during the 2nd England-Scotland Amateur Match, playing alongside the likes of Bernard Darwin, John Ball, and Harold Hilton. Unfortunately, Fowler’s finances had completely fallen apart, resulting in his bankruptcy right before the onset of his playing career. Much of his debt belonged to his brother-in-law, Sir Henry Cosmo Bonsor. To help Fowler find a way out of his indebtedness, Bonsor requested that he develop a golf course upon some land at a place called “Walton Heath.” Despite having zero experience in landscape architecture, Fowler nonetheless constructed the facility in 1902. Taking many months to complete, Fowler managed to construct a fantastic 6,424-yard course that quickly established a reputation as one of England’s best. The debut of Walton Heath Golf Club further solidified Fowler’s growing repute within the world of golf, as he had just secured a vaunted membership in The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. As such, many other golf clubs approached Fowler with the request that he work on their prospective courses.

Then in 1910, Fowler decided to form a partnership with another landscape architect named Tom Simpson. Much younger than Fowler, Simpson had practiced law for five years before taking the opportunity to work with the golfer. His passion for golf course architect had specifically arisen after observing the renovations done to Woking Golf Club when he was just a member. Inspired, Simpson sought out a career with Fowler and the two began designing numerous golf courses throughout Europe. Once World War I had passed, the men had formed an equal partnership alongside two other architects named J.F. Abercromby and Arthur Croome. Simpson himself took the lead in designing and redesigning many of the company’s projects throughout continental Europe, primarily in France and Belgium. Among the best courses he worked on at the time included Golf de Chantilly and Golf de Mortefontaine. Meanwhile, Fowler specialized in crafting courses back home in the United Kingdom, such as Aberdovey Golf Club, Cruden Bay Golf Club, and Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club. Even though Fowler and Simpson’s firm had a focus on European golf courses, it did entertain a satellite branch in the United States, too. The office wound up renovating high-profile courses like Eastward Ho!, Pebble Beach Golf Links, and the Presidio Golf Course. By the end of the 1920s, the partnership between Fowler and Simpson had dissolved, with both men going their separate ways. Nevertheless, the two would remain deeply immersed in golf course design, working on several other club layouts for the remainder of their respective lives. Fowler himself kept building courses all over the British Isles until his death in 1941. Simpson remained active for much longer though, crafting a few courses across the Iberian Peninsula in the aftermath of World War II. He then formed a brief partnership with C.K. Cotton, before finally retiring for good during the 1950s.

Bing Crosby, singer and actor known for his roles in Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary’s. 

Bob Hope, comedian and patron of the United Service Organization (USO). 

Babe Ruth, outfielder for the New York Yankees regarded as being the best baseball player in the sport’s history.

Joe DiMaggio, outfielder for the New York Yankees best remembered as the “Yankee Clipper.” 

Charles M. Schulz, cartoonist best remembered for creating the celebrated comic strip, Peanuts.