Main Post Improvements: Philippines War Tour

Soldiers line up in front of their barracks for inspection.

Through the years of the Philippine wars, these brick barracks served many functions, from housing troops garrisoned at the Presidio, including possibly the 9th Cavalry troops, to serving as a temporary General Hospital while the Letterman facility was constructed, to being temporary home of the Bakers and Cooks school. Many changes were happening here through this period. The San Francisco Call reported in the December of 1903:

"The new gymnasium at the Presidio is nearing completion. It is a fine building and a most valuable adjunct to the fine quarters of the post. Also, in the gymnasium, there is to be a bowling alley, coffee and lunchroom, reading room and baths. The original Casual Camp No. 1 appears very different today from what it did during the Spanish American war. Then it was a rough hillside which sloped down into a steep ravine. Now all is being changed; a big gang of men, horses, plows and dump carts are leveling the place. When finished it will greatly add to that part of the post and make a magnificent site for a fine building. Down at the gun wharf a new torpedo station and torpedo cable station are being put in. On the beach two more storehouses are under construction. They will be 300 feet long by fifty feet wide. A new operation pavilion will soon be ready at the general hospital. During his trip to the East, Major Kendall will look into the purchasing of the newest and latest surgical appliances to be used in the new building. "