A Historical Hill in San Diego, a Tribute to California’s First Presidio

The lesser-known Presidio in San Diego is wroth a trip; visitors discover Californian history, architecture from the 18th century, and beautiful city views.

An illustration of the San Diego Presidio from the 1908 book "History of San Diego, 1542-1907," by William E. Smith. Public Domain

Many people have heard of the Presidio of San Francisco, but they aren’t as familiar with the Presidio in San Diego. Yet, high on a hill overlooking the city’s Old Town are historically significant grounds and an impressive structure worth exploring.

A Spanish word meaning a fort or settlement, “presidios” were built primarily for the protection of Spanish missions along the West Coast of the United States. The largest, now a National Park Historic Site, is in San Francisco and was established in 1776. Yet, on the opposite end of California, at the southern tip in the state’s second-largest city, is the site of a presidio that was founded eight years earlier.

The presidio's long outdoor hallways are emblematic of Spanish mission-style architecture. Deena C. Bouknight

Old Town in San Diego attracts around three million people annually. But Presidio Park experiences much less traffic because both residents and visitors are unaware of its historic importance, park-like beauty, expansive views, and on-site museum.

The presidio that existed here was California’s first military fort and mission. Father Junípero Serra, an 18th-century Franciscan Order Spanish priest, raised a cross and blessed the slope overlooking San Diego Bay.

Though the mission was founded centuries ago, it's easy to imagine settlers listening to preaching and sharing fellowship in the simple, well-preserved halls of the San Diego Presidio. Deena C. Bouknight

A fort and chapel were built, and upwards of 400 people once lived inside the fort. Eventually, these inhabitants and their descendants spread out into Old Town and other areas of the undeveloped coastal landscape and began to construct homes and farms, growing San Diego into a larger community.

Views of the Junípero Serra museum are dynamic amidst the bright blue San Diego sky. Deena C. Bouknight

By the time San Diego received its official status as a Mexican pueblo in 1834 and held municipal elections, fear of attacks from Native Americans and from Spaniards diminished. The original 18th-century presidio soon fell into disrepair.

Restoration

It wasn’t until the early 1900s that a successful department store owner, George Marston, deemed that the hill’s history was important enough to purchase the land and preserve what remained of the original fort. He first had a park built, where the Serra Cross stands, made from fragments of tile and brick from the original presidio. Additionally, the grounds have hosted an archaeological excavation site.

The Serra Cross is made with tiles from the floor of the original Presidio. Deena C. Bouknight

After the park was designated, architect William Templeton Johnson designed an adobe Spanish Revival style structure to pay homage to the original fort. Built in the late 1920s, it houses the Junípero Serra Museum, which features exhibits presenting the history of early San Diego as well as artifacts collected during archaeological digs on the site of the original presidio. Art, clothing, tools and furniture belonging to the early inhabitants of the 18th-century mission and fort are on display.

Leading to Presidio Park’s museum structure is an arched and log-ceiling arcade; inside is a tower, stucco walls, open beam ceilings, porthole windows, decorative brass hardware, and a mural presenting San Diego’s early history.

Antique fixtures and brass hardware adorn the 18th-century presidio. Deena C. Bouknight

The 1.5-mile Presidio Park Loop offers visitors with some idea of the views afforded to the first settlers housed at the fort—although much imagination is needed to envision the now densely populated cityscape as a rural, unblemished vista.

Views of San Diego are visible out of the Presidio's windows and balconies. Deena C. Bouknight

To truly understand what California looked like before commercialization, it behooves travelers to the state to take a ferry ride over to one of the uninhabited islands in Channel Islands National Park, roughly 190 miles north of San Diego. There, they can imagine what San Diego looked like prior to its development.

A visit to Presidio Park, registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1932 and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1960, is free—with a suggested donation to the museum to assist with its operation.

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