Fort Mason
Fort Mason , also known as San Francisco Port of Embarkation, US Army , in San Francisco , California is a former barracks of the United States Army . It is in the Marina District , along the San Francisco Bay . For more than 100 years, Fort Mason was an armed forces post, first for coastal defense and later as a military port . During the Second World War , most of the military cargo for the war in the Pacific was transshipped from here .
Today Fort Mason is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service . Fort Mason is independently a National Historic Landmark with over 49 historic buildings, which are spread over an area of 5 km².
location
Fort Mason is divided into two areas: The upper part, called Upper Fort Mason , is located on a headland on which the original coastal fortifications were. The lower part of Lower Fort Mason lies on the water, west of the upper part, and includes the former military port with its jetties and warehouses. The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is on the east side of Upper Fort Mason , while the Marina Green Park is west of Lower Fort Mason .
history
The American Civil War prompted the construction of various fortifications and artillery positions in the Bay of San Francisco to protect the city, the port and the neighboring Presidio military base in addition to the fortifications built since 1850 in Fort Point at the Golden Gate and on Alcatraz Island . Originally these fortifications were temporary constructions. One of these structures, a chest-high brick wall and reinforcements for cannons , was erected in 1864 on Point San Jose - the original name of Fort Mason. During excavations in the early 1980s, they were found in good condition and restored to the state of the civil war. The fortification was named after Richard Barnes Mason , a military governor of California , in 1882 .
President Grover Cleveland established the Endicott Board in 1885 , chaired by then Secretary of War William Endicott , to modernize the coastal fortifications. The panel recommended new defenses in 22 seaports in the United States, with the port of San Francisco being of strategic importance second only to New York . For this reason, various positions, fortifications and batteries were built in the port, including Fort Mason.
Lower Fort Mason piers and warehouses were built in 1912 to store army supplies and unload transport ships. Around this time the US Army began to build new army positions in Hawaii , the Philippines and various other islands in the Pacific , most of the building material being transported through San Francisco. Lower Fort Mason was completed in 1915 , and a railway tunnel had been driven under Upper Fort Mason , which connected the military port with the railway connection on the Embarcadero .
With these facilities, Fort Mason became more and more a logistical hub for American military operations in the Pacific. Regular ferry service connected the fort to other military installations in the bay.
During the Second World War, Fort Mason became the headquarters of the San Francisco Port of Embarkation , through which the network of military transport stations in the Bay Area was handled. 1.6 million passengers and 23.5 million tons of freight were sent from here to the Pacific War , which corresponds to two thirds of all soldiers deployed by the USA in the Pacific and more than half of all freight on the west coast. The peak was reached in August 1945 when 93,986 soldiers were transported from Fort Mason.
Fort Mason was also important in the Korean War , where it was renamed the US Army Transportation Terminal Command Pacific . In 1965 the headquarters was relocated to Oakland , most of Fort Mason was no longer needed for active service.
In 1972 the National Park Service took over the area and it was incorporated into the newly established Golden Gate National Recreation Area . The buildings are now a National Historic Landmark and the green spaces are a popular recreational area in central San Francisco.
use
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Some of the old officers' buildings are still used by the US Army today, and some other buildings are rented out. One of the larger buildings has been converted into a youth hostel . By and large, the site is now a mix of well-designed parks and gardens that house carefully tended buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries. A footpath that starts at the harbor and leads over the headland offers a very nice view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge . Part of Fort Mason, called the Fort Mason Center , is used for cultural and charitable activities. Fort Mason has over 30 nonprofits, three museums, and two colleges . More than 15,000 events take place here every year, and the park has more than 1.5 million visitors a year.
The National Park Service offices for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and for the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park are in Fort Mason.
Web links
- Official website (English).
- Online travel guide: Fort Mason
- Fort Mason Center (Engl.)
- San Francisco City Guides: Fort Mason (Eng.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Golden Gate National Recreation Area - American "Third System" Period, 1850-1884 . National Park Service. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
- ↑ Golden Gate National Recreation Area - Fort Mason History Walk (PDF; 456 kB) National Park Service. P. 12. Accessed December 29, 2010.
- ↑ Golden Gate National Recreation Area - Harbor Defenses of San Francisco, 1891-1945 . National Park Service. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
- ^ Golden Gate National Recreation Area - The San Francisco Port of Embarkation . National Park Service. Retrieved December 17, 2007.
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: California. National Park Service , accessed July 29, 2019.
- ^ Fort Mason Center - About Us . Fort Mason Foundation. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 17, 2007.
- ^ San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park - Contact Us . National Parks Service. Retrieved December 17, 2007.
- ^ Golden Gate National Recreation Area - Contact Us . National Parks Service. Retrieved December 17, 2007.
Coordinates: 37 ° 48 ′ 16.1 ″ N , 122 ° 25 ′ 40.5 ″ W.