Camp Merritt, California

You are walking through the Inner Richmond, a neighborhood that in the summer of eighteen ninety-eight was transformed into a massive, temporary military city. Known then as Camp Merritt, this stretch of sandy land between what is now Geary Boulevard and Golden Gate Park served as a vital staging ground for soldiers heading to the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. The site was originally the Bay District Racetrack, but it was quickly repurposed to accommodate nearly ten thousand volunteers arriving from across the United States. Rows of white canvas tents stood where modern city blocks now exist, creating a bustling, makeshift world that briefly brought thousands of young men into the heart of San Francisco.