Santa Barbara County Notables
Source: Wikipedia
Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SB_Presidio.jpg
Source: http://www.sbthp.org/presidio.htm
Webpage: http://www.sbthp.org/presidio.htm
Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation
Location: 123 East Canon Perdido Street, Santa Barbara, CA
(A block off State Street, corner of East Canon Perdido and Santa
Barbara Streets)
Hours: Daily, 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM
Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara
The El Presidio Real de
Santa Bárbara, also known as the Royal Presidio of Santa
Barbara, was a military installation in Santa Barbara,
California. It was built by Spain in 1782, with the mission of
defending the Second Military District in California. In modern
times, the Presidio serves as a significant tourist attraction,
museum and an active archaeological site as part of El Presidio
de Santa Barbara State Historic Park. The park contains an
original adobe structure called El Cuartel, which is the second
oldest surviving building in California; only the chapel at
Mission San Juan Capistrano, known as "Father Serra's
Church", is older. The Presidio of Santa Barbara has the
distinction of being the last military outpost built by Spain in
the New World. The Presidio was listed on the U.S. National
Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Contemporary setting
The current El Presidio
de Santa Barbara State Historic Park site sits between Anacapa
and Garden Streets on East Canon Perdido Street in downtown Santa
Barbara. The main portion of the site is across the street from
the Santa Barbara city Post Office, and is about two blocks from
city hall, De la Guerra Plaza and two other museums, the Santa
Barbara Historical Museum and the Casa de la Guerra.
Only two portions of the original presidio quadrangle survive to
this day: the Cañedo Adobe, named for José María Cañedo, the
Soldado de Cuera to whom it was deeded in lieu of back pay when
the Presidio fell to inactivity, and the remnants of a two-room
soldiers quarters, called El Cuartel. The Cañedo Adobe is
currently the visitor’s center for the state park, and El
Cuartel is largely unmodified. The site’s operator, the
Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, reconstructed the
rest of the site, with the most recent construction—two
rooms in the northwest corner of the site—finished in May
2006. The reconstruction is ongoing, with the construction of two
more rooms in the northwest corner beginning in December 2007.
History
The site of the Presidio
was chosen by Felipe de Neve, the first governor of the
Californias. Perceiving that the coast at Santa Barbara was
vulnerable to attack, he located a spot near a harbor which was
sheltered from severe storms. In addition, there was an ample
supply of both building materials and water nearby. Construction
began on April 21, 1782, and Padre Junípero Serra blessed the
site. By the next year, a temporary facility had been completed,
and a wheat field planted by the Chumash Indians of Chief
Yanonalit. The early Presidio consisted of mud and brush walls
around a quadrangle 330 feet on a side. The post had 61 officers
and men in 1783.
The first comandante, José Francisco Ortega, planned the
fortifications and irrigation works. He obtained livestock for
the presidio from Ventura, established orchards, and began
large-scale farming. Four years later, construction of the nearby
Mission Santa Barbara began. The town of Santa Barbara developed
around the Presidio, which offered protection for the residents.
The chapel in the Presidio was the primary place of worship for
the residents of early Santa Barbara until its destruction by the
Fort Tejon earthquake in 1857. This is because the mission,
located a mile and a half away, was mainly intended for use by
the native Chumash Native Americans after their conversion to
Christianity.
The Presidio was built as a fortress, and therefore included a
strong outer wall with an open parade ground on all sides
affording clear visibility. While it was never attacked by a
strong military force during its sixty years of operation, the
Presidio was subject to the assaults of nature. Several
devastating earthquakes in the early 19th century destroyed much
of the structure. At the time of the Mexican-American War, very
little remained in usable condition, and on December 27, 1846,
when John C. Frémont crossed San Marcos Pass during rainy
weather and came up on the Presidio and the town from behind, the
Presidio surrendered without a fight. No fight was necessary; the
garrison was away, in Los Angeles. Frémont had heard that the
Mexican army was lying in ambush for him at Gaviota Pass, the
only sensible route over the mountains at that time, and had
crossed the difficult muddy track on San Marcos Pass to outflank
them, but this move turned out not to have been necessary.
Mexican General Andrés Pico later surrendered his force to
Frémont, recognizing that the war was lost.
In 1963, the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation was
founded, with the primary mission of restoring the Presidio. In
1966, the land on which the Presidio is located became a State
Historic Park. On December 27, 2006, the SBTHP renewed their
ongoing agreement with the California State Parks Department to
manage the Presidio. Work on the restoration is currently taking
place. On November 26, 1973 the Presidio of Santa Barbara was
added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
This page was last updated August 2, 2009.
