presidio to pacific
powerhouse
How the Military Shaped San Diego
K12 Educators’ Guide
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OVERVIEW and EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
INTRODUCTION TO THE MILITARY IN
SAN DIEGO
2
3-4
SAN DIEGO MILITARY TIMELINE
5
SAMPLE ACTIVITY (SELF GUDIED, 5TH GRADE)
6
CURRICULUM STANDARDS
7-9
1
PRESIDIO TO PACIFIC POWEHOUSE EXHIBIT OVERVIEW
From the establishment in 1774 of the Spanish presidio guarding the coast of California from atop a hill
in what is today Presidio Park, soldiers have lived with their families in San Diego, serving Spanish, then
Mexican, and finally American interests in the region.
San Diego has long been a training ground for all services of the United States military and today, San
Diego is still inextricably tied to the Armed Forces with Naval, Marine, and Coast Guard installations
scattered throughout the county. The United States Navy is the second-largest employer in the county
and many of the service members who have come through the region during their enlistments have
stayed and started families. Many have even established their own businesses as contractors to the
United States military.
Throughout its existence, San Diego has been impacted in various and considerable ways by the
military’s strong presence. Presidio to Pacific Powerhouse: How the Military Shaped San Diego tells the
story of this longstanding and continued interaction.
The exhibition is a 10-museum partnership between:
✦ San Diego History Center (hub exhibition)
✦ Air & Space
✦ Camp Pendleton
✦ Coronado Historical
✦ Flying Leatherneck Museum
✦ Maritime Museum
✦ MCRD
✦ Midway Museum
✦ NTC
✦ Veteran’s Museum and Memorial Center
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
This guide was created to work in conjunction with the exhibition to:
● Familiarize teachers and students with the impact and evolution of the military in San Diego
● Increase students’ understanding of how the development of military industries have changed San Diego
over time
● Demonstrate how the physical landscape of San Diego has been altered by the presence of the military
● Outline the military’s significant cultural and social presence and its effect on San Diego
2
INTRODUCTION TO THE MILITARY IN SAN DIEGO
Two hundred and forty-five years ago a small contingent of Spanish soldiers established a crude fort, the
Presidio, on a hill overlooking San Diego Bay, marking the first military presence in San Diego. The
Presidio mounted two brass cannons and had a wooden stockade surrounding a number of simple brush
huts. Later in 1774 occupants improved the Presidio by reinforcing the 300 feet by 300 feet compound
using sun-dried adobe blocks. These walls surrounded a commandant’s house, homes for married
soldiers, a barracks and guardhouse, a gatehouse, and a church and chaplain’s quarters. Some of the
buildings were adorned with red-tiled roofs.
A second fort was constructed in 1796 at the mouth of the bay on a projection of land at San Diego Bay’s
entrance now known as Ballast Point. This small fort, called Fort Guijarros was manned by a small
garrison and mounted two cannons.
In 1822, the Spanish authorities relinquished their claims to Alta and Baja California and turned the
Presidio over to the new government of an independent Mexico after an extended conflict. Occupied by
as many as 500 persons at its height from 1825-1829, the fort was the official Mexican Governor’s
residence and the capital of all of Baja and Alta California.
After the capital of Alta California was moved northward to Monterrey, California, the presidio began to
fall into disuse. By 1828, occupants had begun to move into the pueblo settlement at the foot of the hill,
which would one day be known as Old Town San Diego. The slowly growing town’s residents began
dismantling the presidio, using its roof and floor tiles to construct new homes. After the last residents of
the presidio left, the site was used as makeshift corral for sheep and cattle owned by local ranchers.
In 1846 the United States declared war on Mexico. On the morning of July 29, 1846, Captain Samuel F.
Dupont, U.S.N. piloted his sloop-of-war Cyane into San Diego Bay. The ship’s executive officer,
Lieutenant Stephen Rowen and the commanding officer of the sloop’s marine guard set off toward
shore with a contingent of sailors and marines and marched unopposed into the Old Town square where
they raised the American flag the following day, on July 30th.
After establishing a small fort at a location above the former presidio and naming it Fort Dupont, the
captain sailed the Cyane northward to Los Angeles, leaving behind 40 men to defend the newly
established fort. In September Mexican loyalists retook San Diego, and three weeks later the Americans
rallied and retook the town for a second time. Mexican forces continued to harass the city’s defenders
until the arrival of Commodore Robert F. Stockton and his troops. After reinforcing the fort he renamed
it Fort Stockton.
After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, the U.S. Army Quartermaster’s Department used San
Diego as a logistics point to support military escorts accompanying the American Boundary Commission,
busy establishing a formal boundary between the United States and Mexico California--and San Diego-was now American.
3
Despite San Diego’s long military history, it took the escalation of global tensions in the early 1900s for
the United States to take a greater interest in the Pacific and for the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps to
increase their operations in San Diego. By the mid-twentieth century, San Diego had become one of the
nation’s nerve centers for naval, marine, coast guard, and civilian defense operations on the West Coast.
Today, surrounded by military and military-related facilities, warships are built and repaired, software is
developed, and medical research thrives, all contributing to the growth of our economy, the cultural and
political evolution of our mega-region and the security of our nation.
San Diego’s evolution from wilderness presidio to powerhouse of the pacific over the last two and a half
centuries exemplifies a collaborative effort between the civic, business and military sectors and their
corresponding leadership. No other American city has experienced this dynamic set of military/civilian
relationships. We invite you to explore this complex history and to discover the innumerable and
profound ways in which the military has impacted the economic growth and physical and cultural
evolution of San Diego.
4
SAN DIEGO MILITARY TIMELINE
✦ 1774 Presidio status granted to fort by Spanish crown, mission relocated to its current site in Mission
Valley
✦ 1822 California becomes part of an independent Mexico, its capital is moved to Monterrey and the
presidio falls into disuse
✦ 1846 US Military occupies San Diego
✦ 1847 Mormon Battalion arrives in San Diego after marching 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa
✦ 1870 San Diego Chamber of Commerce Founded
✦ 1904 Naval Coaling Station established at La Playa
✦ 1905 USS Bennington disaster on San Diego Bay
✦ 1906 First US Navy wireless radio station at Point Loma
✦ 1908 US Great White Fleet visits San Diego
✦ 1912 US Military flying school opens at North Island
✦ 1915 Panama-California Exhibition showcases the military
✦ 1917 Naval Air Station, North Island established
✦ 1922 Permanent Naval Hospital opens in Balboa Park
✦ 1923 Naval and Marine Recruit Training Centers established at Point Loma
✦ 1935 Consolidated Aircraft Corporation relocates to San Diego
✦ 1935 President Theodore Roosevelt visits Rockwell Field at North Island
✦ 1941 USO founded
✦ 1941 B-24 Liberator bombers built in San Diego
✦ 1942 Marine Corps training base established at Camp Pendleton
✦ 1945-1947 Construction of the San Diego Aqueduct by the Navy
✦ 1928- the enlisted women sworn into the regular U.S. Navy and the first women commissioned into the
regular US Navy
✦ 1959 Convair develops intercontinental ballistic missile
✦ 1977 Navy merges facilities into the Naval Ocean Systems Center
✦ 1978 US Navy begins assigning women to warships
✦ 1993 Naval Training Center in Point Loma closed by BRAC commission following the end of the Cold War
✦ 1997 Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command established
5
EXAMPLE ACTIIVTY – 5TH GRADE SELF GUIDED TOUR
YOUR MISSION (should you chose to accept it):
Compete this activity sheet inside the Presidio to Pacific Powerhouse Exhibit in 025 minutes ore less!
DESTINATION: ATRIUM
MISSION: DISCUSS CHENOWTH AND THE DUNE BUGGY
Dune Buggy
INNOVATIVE?
YES/ HOW SO?
NO / WHY NOT?
Chenowth
AN INNOVATOR?
YES/ HOW SO?
NO / WHY NOT?
DESTINATION: GALLERY 3
MISSION: RENAME BALBOA PARK
If an EXPOSITION happens in Balboa Park in the year 3015, what
would you name it? Why?
__________________________________________________
DESTINATION: GALLERY 4
MISSION: LIST AT LEAST 2 INNOVATIONS THAT GLENN H. CURTISS CREATED
__________________________________
__________________________________
DESTINATION: GALLERY 5
MISSION: COMPLETE THE LAST THREE QUESTIONS BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT!
What is the nickname of the mannequin wearing overalls? Why is that her nickname?
________________________________________________________________________
What year was Naval Medical Center San Diego built? ___________________________
List 6 ETHNIC COMMUNITIES that have contributed to SD’s diverse military history
1. _________________________________ 4. _________________________________
2. _________________________________ 5. _________________________________
3. _________________________________ 6. _________________________________
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CA State Content Standards: History-Social Science
K-5
Chronological and Spatial Thinking
Students place key events and people of the historical era they are studying in a chronological sequence and
within a spatial context; they interpret time lines.
Students correctly apply terms related to time, including past, present, future, decade, century, and generation.
Students explain how the present is connected to the past, identifying both similarities and differences between
the two, and how some things change over time and some things stay the same.
Students use map and globe skills to determine the absolute locations of places and interpret information
available through a map or globe’s legend, scale, and symbolic representations.
Students judge the significance of the relative location of a place (e.g., proximity to a harbor, on trade routes) and
analyze how relative advantages or disadvantages can change over time.
Research, Evidence, and Point of View
Students differentiate between primary and secondary sources.
Students pose relevant questions about events they encounter in historical documents, eyewitness accounts, oral
histories, letters, diaries, artifacts, photographs, maps, artworks, and architecture.
Students distinguish fact from fiction by comparing documentary sources on historical figures and events with
fictionalized characters and events.
Historical Interpretation
Students summarize the key events of the era they are studying and explain the historical contexts of those
events.
Students identify the human and physical characteristics of the places they are studying and explain how those
features form the unique character of those places.
Students identify and interpret the multiple causes and effects of historical events.
Students conduct cost-benefit analyses of historical and current events. rules, and respecting the rights of others.
Fifth Grade- United States History and Geography: Making A New Nation
Students in grade five study the development of the nation up to 1850, with an emphasis on the people who were
already here, when and from where others arrived, and why they came...They recognize that ours is a nation that
has a constitution that derives its power from the people, that has gone through a revolution, that once
sanctioned slavery, that experienced conflict over land with the original inhabitants, and that experienced a
westward movement that took its people across the continent. Studying the cause, course, and consequences of
the early explorations through the War for Independence and western expansion is central to students’
fundamental understanding of how the principles of the American republic form the basis of a pluralistic society in
which individual rights are secured.
7
6th-8th
Chronological and Spatial Thinking
Students explain how major events are related to one another in time.
Students construct various time lines of key events, people, and periods of the historical era they are studying.
Students use a variety of maps and documents to identify physical and cultural features of neighborhoods, cities,
states, and countries and to explain the historical migration of people, expansion and disintegration of empires,
and the growth of economic systems.
Research, Evidence, and Point of View
Students frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research.
Students distinguish fact from opinion in historical narratives and stories.
Students distinguish relevant from irrelevant information, essential from incidental
information, and verifiable from unverifiable information in historical narratives and stories.
Students assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources and draw sound conclusions from them.
Students detect the different historical points of view on historical events and determine the context in which the
historical statements were made (the questions asked, sources used, author’s perspectives).
Historical Interpretation
Students explain the central issues and problems from the past, placing people and events in a matrix of time and
place.
Students understand and distinguish cause, effect, sequence, and correlation in historical events, including the
long- and short-term causal relations.
Eighth Grade- United States History and Geography: Growth and Conflict
Students in grade eight study the ideas, issues, and events from the framing of the Constitution up to World War I,
with an emphasis on America’s role in the war. ...students trace the development of American politics, society,
culture, and economy and relate them to the emergence of major regional differences... They make connections
between the rise of industrialization and contemporary social and economic conditions.
9th-12th
Chronological and Spatial Thinking
Students compare the present with the past, evaluating the consequences of past events and decisions and
determining the lessons that were learned.
Students analyze how change happens at different rates at different times; understand that some aspects can
change while others remain the same; and understand that change is complicated and affects not only technology
and politics but also values and beliefs.
Students use a variety of maps and documents to interpret human movement, including major patterns of
domestic and international migration, changing environmental preferences and settlement patterns, the frictions
that develop between population groups, and the diffusion of ideas, technological innovations, and goods.
Students relate current events to the physical and human characteristics of places and regions.
Historical Research, Evidence, and Point of View
Students distinguish valid arguments from fallacious arguments in historical interpretations.
Students identify bias and prejudice in historical interpretations.
8
Students construct and test hypotheses; collect, evaluate, and employ information from multiple primary and
secondary sources; and apply it in oral and written presentations.
Historical Interpretation
Students show the connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical events and larger social,
economic, and political trends and developments.
Students recognize the complexity of historical causes and effects, including the limitations on determining cause
and effect.
Students interpret past events and issues within the context in which an event unfolded rather than solely in
terms of present-day norms and values.
Students understand the meaning, implication, and impact of historical events and recognize that events could
have taken other directions.
Students analyze human modifications of landscapes and examine the resulting environmental policy issues.
Students conduct cost-benefit analyses and apply basic economic indicators to analyze the aggregate economic
behavior of the U.S. economy.
Eleventh Grade-United States History and Geography: Continuity and Change in the Twentieth-Century
Students in grade eleven study the major turning points in American history in the twentieth century. Following a
review of the nation’s beginnings and the impact of the Enlightenment on U.S. democratic ideals, students build
upon the tenth grade study of global industrialization to understand the emergence and impact of new
technology and a corporate economy, including the social and cultural effects. They trace the change in the ethnic
composition of American society; the movement toward equal rights for racial minorities and women; and the
role of the United States as a major world power. An emphasis is placed on the expanding role of the federal
government and federal courts as well as the continuing tension between the individual and the state. Students
consider the major social problems of our time and trace their causes in historical events. They learn that the
United States has served as a model for other nations and that the rights and freedoms we enjoy are not
accidents, but the results of a defined set of political principles that are not always basic to citizens of other
countries. Students understand that our rights under the U.S. Constitution are a precious inheritance that
depends on an educated citizenry for their preservation and protection.
COMMON CORE APPLICATIONS
Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.1
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the
source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7
Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print
and digital texts.
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Welcome to the San Diego History Center!
Prior to entering the galleries, please go over our museum behavior guidelines with your
students. If you have any questions or concerns during your visit, please ask the Visitor
Services Assistant located at the front desk.
Museum Behavior Guidelines
Museum Store: If your students plan on going in the Store, please accompany them. The Store
is a part of the Museum and chaperones must stay with their groups at all times.
Student to Chaperone Ratio: Please make sure there is at least one (1) chaperone for every
group of ten (10) students. It is helpful to plan a meeting point for the end of your visit if you are
separating into smaller groups.
Touching: Whether it is a fragile object or a seemingly sturdy object, all artifacts are capable of
being damaged. Never touch displayed artifacts or Plexiglas cases unless you are specifically
told otherwise. It is usually best to stay at least arm’s length from any displayed object.
Photography: Photographing objects is allowed so long as the flash is turned off.
Cell phones: We generally ask visitors to put their cell phones and other electronic devices on
silent and refrain from having phone conversations while in the galleries. However, visitors can
dial (619) 342-8013 for an audio tour of information on the displays in the galleries.
Generally, the only fee associated with this service is the cell phone minutes.
Voice Level: Out of consideration for other visitors in the museum, please use low, library level
voices to talk. This is especially important in instances where other visitors may be trying to
listen to audio or guided tours. You may always ask questions of the museum staff.
Pencils and Paper: It is acceptable to bring sketchpads, notebooks, and erasable pencils into
the galleries for taking notes. Ink pens are not allowed in the museum.
Backpacks: Avoid bringing any bulky backpacks or large purses. If you do, you will probably be
asked to check it. These large objects slung over your shoulder might bump a display or artifact
and damage it.
Food and Drinks: No food or beverages are allowed in exhibit areas. Lunches may be placed
next to the benches in the atrium or checked at the front desk.
Have fun – come visit again!
To learn more about SDHC events and offerings, please visit: www.sandiegohistory.org
PRESIDIO TO PACIFIC POWERHOUSE
GALLERY GUIDELINES
Photography is allowed all throughout SDHC without a flash
GLASS GALLERY (SDHC ENTRYWAY)
Visitors must stay behind the sand bags.
Children are allowed to sit in the little plane
ATRIUM
(LARGE OPEN AREA AFTER WALKING PAST THE FRONT DESK)
Visitors CAN…
· GENTLY touch the wheel, sail, ropes, and can turn the capstan.
· Stand next to and touch the dune buggy but no climbing on or into.
Visitors Can NOT…
· Climb, sit, or stand on anything
· Touch the wings on the small silver missile standing on the Powerhouse
side of the main text panel
· Touch the mannequins on the sides of the main text panel
· Pull or unwind the rope on the ground.
GALLERY 3 (“Bolstering the Economy”)
Visitors CAN…
· Touch the outside of the engine on the wall
· Sit in the blue simulator plane and turn the knobs (back of gallery)
Gently, and with adult supervision touch the wings.
o NOTE: there may be some sharp edges.
o DO NOT PULL on the wings
Visitors Can NOT…
· Run around this gallery
· Push against the text panel canvases, lift them up, or go behind them.
· Touch the Plexiglas over the Cubic simulator panel
· Touch the wooden dry dock support.
GALLERY 4: BASES/ TRAINING
(ENTER THROUGH THE BACK OF GALLERY 3)
Please stay behind the sand bags at all times
Visitors CAN…
· Touch, but DON’T GO BEHIND the "son of a gun" machinery
Visitors Can NOT…
· Touch the long model ships
· Touch the mannequins
· Sit on the bunks or touch the mattresses/ sheets
· Touch Colonel Joseph Pendleton’s horse or horse’s saddle
· Touch the paintings
GALLERY 5: IMPACT ON POPULAR CULTURAL
(ENTER VIA THE ATRIUM)
Visitors CAN…
· Touch the molds along the back of the NTC wall
Visitors Can NOT…
· Climb on objects, objects stands, or vehicles (exception is Humvee)
· Touch any mannequin, including Rosie the Riveter
· Pull on the stamp cords or stamp anything other than paper or
their skin. Ink is water based, organic, and safe for topical use
Optional…
Gently, and with adult supervision
· Sit in the Humvee and touch the knobs, but please do NOT climb into the
gun area past the netting, or climb on the outside of the vehicle or tires.
GALLERY 6: MILITARY MOVIES FROM SAN DIEGO
(THORNTON THEATRE ENTRY WAY)
· You may sit in the ejection seat.
· Please refrain from touching the posters
THORNTON THEATER
Selections will vary. Repeated on loop throughout the day
Approximate run time per segment is ~10min.