The Presidio of San Francisco is part of the forts-to-parks program of the
Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Excerpted from Wikipedia :
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, officially opened in 1848, and became home to several Army headquarters and units, the last being the United States 6th Army. Several famous U.S. generals, such as William Sherman, George Henry Thomas, and John Pershing made their homes here.
Officers of the United States Army post famously gave Emperor Norton an elaborate blue uniform with tarnished gold-plated epaulets in the 1860s. The self-proclaimed emperor of the United States was beloved by the people of San Francisco.
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 entanglement in the Asia/Pacific region.
The San Francisco National Cemetery in the Presidio is the only cemetery remaining within the city of San Francisco.
The Presidio was the center for defense of the Western U.S. during World War II. The infamous order to intern Japanese-Americans, German-Americans and Italian-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), which was named, in 1911, for Jonathan Letterman, the medical director of the Army of the Potomac (Civil War). LAMC featured in every US foreign conflict during the 20th century by treating thousands of war wounded with high quality medical care.
Part of the Presidio contains the last remaining cemetery in city limits, the The San Francisco National Cemetery. Among the military personnel interred is General Fedreick Funston, hero of the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and was the commanding officer of the Presidio when the 1906 Earthquake hit San Francisco; General Irvin McDowell who commanded the Union Army in the early days of the American Civil War and was defeated by the Confederates in the first major battle of Bull Run (or Manassas). After he retired, he moved to California and died in 1885 of a heart attack.
The Presidio also has four creeks, that are currently under restoration efforts 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.