First and Last Stop - Introduction: Philippines War Tour

Cavalry line up in formation in front of the guardhouse, which is now the Presidio Visitor's Center.

Welcome to the National Park Service, First and Last Stop: Philippine War tour. As you stroll the Presidio and visit the Philippine War sites, you will hear first hand accounts and news reports from the period, giving you a flavor of what it was like to be here during the busiest time in the Presidio's history... as soldiers made their first and last stops here while on their way to and from war in the Philippines. This audio tour will reveal the many ways in which the soldiers and the citizens of San Francisco interacted, forever changing the face of the Presidio and the city.

After Indian uprisings were no longer a threat in the mid-1890s, the Army began moving troops from frontier posts to bases better connected to transport routes. The rail lines and port of San Francisco made the Presidio a prime place to relocate troops, and by 1896 the monumental brick barracks along Montgomery Street emerged above the newly expanded Main Post parade ground. Foreshadowing the coming conflict in the Pacific, these impressive buildings would house a growing contingent of soldiers.