The Meaning Behind Presidio

After attending this campus for several semesters now, I have become accustom to its uncommon relations to the military. Uncommon relations to the military for a college campus I mean.

As most of us know, the school was built on the old Fort Ord which used to be a post for the U.S. Army (if you don’t know this, which rock have you been living under?). But situated close to the school are a number of houses which still currently reside under Army control. This portion of Fort Ord is known as the Presidio of Monterey.

The Presidio’s main campus is directly in Monterey, and the Ord Military Community which is located so closely to the school is its Annex. But that doesn’t change the question, what is a Presidio?

A Presidio is basically a base that was established by the Spanish in North America. These forts were built with the intention to keep out unwanted visitors, or hostile invaders. It is essentially the oldest part of a city.

In the late 1700’s, Spanish General was ordered to siege Monterey for Spain, later taken over by Mexico, and lastly, the United States. Control of the Presidio by the United States came in 1846 during the Mexican-American War, and has remained so ever since.