A Historical Reference - A Brief History

Top Marston referred to the Junípero Serra Museum as "the commanding landmark of Presidio Hill." Bottom Presidio Park, 1928. View looking northwest from what is now the area between Cosoy Way and Presidio Drive. Photos courtesy San Diego History Center

P residio Park is unique and has a fascinating history. It begins with pre-European contact and the local Kumeyaay peoples who frequented the area, perhaps as far back in human history as 12,000 years ago. The Kumeyaay tribes were a semi-nomadic group of peoples who moved from sea to mountain gathering food and hunting prey. They would bring some of these hunting spoils to the nearby drying place where they were prepared for storage and for future consumption. In the Kumeyaay language the drying place is spoken audibly as Kosoy. Today, at the top of Presidio Park lays Cosoy Way, a triangularly shaped road which pays homage to the ancient seasonal village of Kosoy which lay at the base of Presidio Hill.

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed into what would one day be called San Diego Bay in 1542. Urban Legend tells us that some of the dead from that voyage may be buried somewhere in the park. Cabrillo claimed the region for Spain and customarily named the area Santa Maria, after his vessel. No permanent settlement was established at that time as his expedition continued northward, up the California Coast.

Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaíno sailed into this same bay in 1602 and named the area San Diego, after his vessel. He also failed to establish a European post and continued on his voyage. But this name sake stuck, and future maps would show San Diego as that large protected safe harbor before reaching the final destination of Monterey Bay.

Father Junípero Serra Arrived in 1769 and claimed this land for God and Country . He had traveled by foot from the most Northerly Jesuit Mission which is near present day Rosarito, Mexico. Credited for establishing the first European settlement on the West Coast, he also founded the first Spanish Mission in what is now California, right here in Presidio Park. Location was everything as the Hill provided a natural topographical defense from the assumed, hostile Indians which might attach from the East as well as giving an offensive 180 degree view, should enemy ships approach the area from the West. The Presidio grew and flourished for decades but eventually the population could not be supported within the walls of the Presidio fort. It was completely abandoned by the 1830s in favor of a new settlement at the bottom of the Hill that provided greater space to the now growing San Diego population. Today we call that development Old Town.

The original Spanish Presidio stronghold lay abandoned and neglected for decades thereafter until, in 1907 George W. Marston, Civic Leader, Political Leader and Philanthropist began to show an interest in the forgotten Presidio Hill.

He determined it was necessary to preserve what was left of the original Presidio - "Mr. Charles Kelly, one of our early pioneers, suggested to me that something ought to be done to preserve the original site of the first California Mission. I realized immediately the importance of securing this historic ground for public conservation…" - George Marston, 1942. And to that end, he, as well as several other interested parties namely, John D. Spreckels, E.W. Scripps, and A.G. Spalding systematically purchased the tracts of land in and around the original Presidio. Eventually Marston bought out his partners giving them 6% interest per year and by 1915 Marston owned 14 lots on top of Presidio Hill. And with forethought, he then had the deed and title placed in trust, for the City Of San Diego.

For almost 30 years George W. Marston spent a large amount of his money, efforts and emotions directed at preserving the ruins of the Old Presidio, planning, developing and landscaping the hill into a park, both to preserve the history that lay there and to excite the visitor who may come and wonder at the beautiful horticultural display he was about to create.

In fact, it took George Marston 25 years to acquire an additional 20 acres which comprised half of the almost 60 acre park which he handed over to the City of San Diego on January 13, 1930. "Excepting my mercantile business this Presidio Hill undertaking is the largest work of my life. Including the acquiring of land, beginning in 1907, I spent a good part of thirty years attending to it." - George Marston, 1942.

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