The Presidio Turns 250 on September 17, With a Free Anniversary Walk on the 13th

The Presidio of San Francisco turns 250 on September 17, 2026. The Presidio Trust dates the founding of El Presidio de San Francisco to that day in 1776, and it is running the anniversary as a year-long commemoration rather than a single event.

What the date marks

In its 2026 preview, the Presidio Trust puts the founding of El Presidio de San Francisco on September 17, 1776, and notes that it happened the same year the Declaration of Independence was signed on the east coast.

The Trust describes the site’s history as spanning multiple cultures: the Ramaytush Ohlone, whose ancestral homeland it is and who lived on the land for thousands of years; Spanish and then Mexican colonists; the U.S. Army; and, since 1994, visitors to a national park site. The park covers 1,500 acres next to the Golden Gate Bridge and sits inside the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Anniversary programming in September

The Presidio’s event calendar lists a guided walk built around the milestone. 250 Years on the Presidio is on Sunday, September 13 at 11am, and the Trust describes it as a guided look at how landscapes and stories have shaped the Presidio over time.

Two other September dates are on the calendar. The World Arts West Dance Festival is at Presidio Tunnel Tops on Sunday, September 6 at 1pm, with music and dance from around the world and the Golden Gate Bridge behind the stage. The Presidio’s eighth annual Chuseok Festival, a celebration of Korean culture, is Saturday, September 26 at 11am. Free Yoga in the Park runs on Sunday mornings at 10am.

What you can see on any day

The Trust points anniversary visitors to self-guided walks and to two interpretive landscapes, Battery Bluff and El Polín Spring, plus free exhibitions at the Presidio Officers’ Club and the Presidio Visitor Center. National Park Service rangers at the Visitor Center hand out maps, and the Trust publishes self-guided itineraries if you want a route planned for you.

Presidio Tunnel Tops, the park land built over the Doyle Drive tunnels, has two acres of nature play at the Outpost and the Field Station. Camping at Rob Hill Campground, one of two campgrounds in San Francisco, runs through October and is booked on recreation.gov.

Getting there

The Presidio GO Shuttle is free and runs from downtown San Francisco into and around the park. The Trust says four battery-electric low-floor buses joined the fleet in spring 2026, bringing it to 60 percent electric. Muni routes and Bay Wheels bike share stations inside the park are the other options.

More on what is happening around the city this month is in our September 2026 guide.

Photo: Burkhard Mücke, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.