What Did El Presidio Look Like?
Soldiers and settlers laid out the original El Presidio garrison measuring 92 vargas (approximately 250 feet) on each side. At the center stood the quarters/offices of the fort commander (what is today known as the Presidio Officers’ Club), surrounded by a chapel, warehouses, a guardhouse, and jail. By 1792 the original El Presidio had been entirely replaced. The replacement construction included three defensive walls, a rebuilt chapel, warehouse and commandant’s quarters, a new guard-house, jail, and a second warehouse. Through recent archaeological excavation, evidence of a third major reconstruction dating from 1815 is coming to light. After Mexican independence from Spain in 1821, the strategic importance of El Presidio declined. By 1835 El Presidio was effectively abandoned as a military site until the U.S. Army took over the post in 1846. At first the Army simply reused some of the abandoned adobe buildings. However, during several building campaigns they eventually expanded the
