Fort Mason, Upper Reservation (San Francisco, California)

 interesting place, closed / former military, historic landmark

Set apart from public domain in 1850. Post established in 1863 as Camp at San Jose Point. Redesignated Fort Mason in 1882 in honor of Col. Richard B. Mason, veteran of various Indian campaigns and the War with Mexico.

Nine points of the law or not, possession had little effect in 1863 when the Army decided that it needed Point San Jose. Squatters who had moved into the reservation within the past decade, building, renting, mortgaging, and selling the property without regard for legal titles, were told they would have to go.

Fresh in the memories of some Army men was the furor when Captain E. D. Keyes cleared squatters from Rincon Point in 1853. That episode had resulted in a civil trial. Although the suit was dismissed by the judge, Keyes was told by a juror that the jury probably would have found Keyes guilty in sympathy for the "underdog" squatters.

This had subdued Army enthusiasm for clearing Point San Jose. As General Irvin McDowell summarized the situation, "Combinations of land-grabbers and land-jumpers so harassed this officer that he wrote in despair that he could not protect the government property, and in one of his letters reports: 'They have seized on Point San Jose and have it in complete possession.'

Formerly home to the Headquarters, US Army Transport Service from 1919 to 1941, the Headquarters, San Francisco Port of Embarkation, the 4th Motor Repair Battalion from 1922 to 1931, and a Detachment, 8th Signal Service Company.

Read more of Fort Mason's extensive history here: www.militarymuseum.org/Pt%20San%20Jose.html