Bakers and Cooks School: Philippines War Tour

A school for Bakers and Cooks

During the Spanish-American War, less than 200 men died from battle injuries, but over 5000 died from sickness or disease. And much of the sickness was attributed to the lack of trained cooks. So, in 1905, the War Department opened the first school for bakers and cooks at Fort Riley, Kansas. It soon added schools at the Presidio, at Washington Barracks, D.C., and at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Building 35, the large building across Lincoln on your left, and Building 220, the large building across Halleck to your right, both housed the Bakers and Cooks School over the years.

On April 1, 1906, when the Presidio acquired the new Bakers and Cooks school, Colonel Morris urged that a barracks be erected for the sixty-eight students, then camping on the lower parade ground in tents. Meanwhile, he moved them into the brick barracks where they would be close to their classes in the bakeries and various kitchens. The post commissary described the school:

"The school is divided into four squads. Four of the best cooks in the Department of California serve as instructors. Classes last four months and the school graduates 120 cooks annually. It produces 2,000 loaves of bread daily, which are sold for 3 cents each."