San Diego Presidio Site

The bronze lists soldiers, sailors, Indians and Franciscan missionaries from New Spain among those who occupied the land here in May 1769. Kosa'aay stood at the foot of this hill, an 'Iipay village of thirty or forty families drawing on a freshwater spring. The Spanish put a hospital camp on the hill and took the spring. The plaque counts the people whose water it was as part of the expedition that took it, and gives the village no name at all. A park in Old Town now carries the name.

What the plaque says

San Diego Presidio Site Soldiers, sailors, Indians, and Franciscan missionaries from New Spain occupied the land at Presidio Hill on May 17, 1769 as a military outpost. Two months later, Fr. Junipero Serra established the first San Diego Mission on Presidio Hill. Officially proclaimed a Spanish presidio on January 1, 1774, the fortress was later occupied by a succession of Mexican forces. The presidio was abandoned in 1837 after San Diego became a pueblo. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 59 First registered Dec. 6, 1932. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, August 8, 1992.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Serra Palm (Site) — steps away
• Derby Dike — steps away
• Fort Stockton — steps away
• Casa de Carrillo — 0.3 mi