The Presidio: From Army Post to National Park

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Benton, Lisa M. The Presidio: From Army Post to National Park. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998. The Presidio National Park is located within the city limits of San Francisco, California. It was first created by the Spanish as a military base in the late eighteenth century. After the Mexican-American War, the base was transferred to American control. In 1994, the Presidio became the United State’s largest urban national park, though not without considerable debate. Land developers, park enthusiasts, and the military disagreed over how the site should be used. A further point of contestation was how an urban park would fit into the national park ideal. Lisa Benton examines the case of Presidio National Park as an example of how the US National Park Service has reconsidered a traditional notion of parks as wilderness preserves and points to the multi-use nature of the Presidio as a possible model for future developments.