The Presidio encompasses more history than any other site within San Francisco. It was also the longest-operating Army base in the country when it shuttered in the 1990s. Historian John Martini unfolds its story that encompasses Spanish colonial settlers, 1906 earthquake refugees, more than 140 years of U.S. Army history, and the dizzying variety of military architecture found throughout the post.

Closed in 1994 by order of Congress, the Presidio was saved from private development by its inclusion within the National Park Service’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Martini examines the history of the post from the Mexican–American War to the first Gulf War; its uses as a coastal fortification, embryonic airfield, sprawling military hospital, and home to the famed Buffalo Soldiers; and its dark history as headquarters for relocating 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. He also offers insights into its ongoing preservation efforts and why the Presidio's 30-year transition “from post to park” has become a model for the conversion of former military sites into public spaces.

General Information

• View Common FAQs and Policies about our Online Programs on Zoom.