Naval Postgraduate School, Hermann Hall (Hotel Del Monte), and the Presidio at Monterey

The Naval Postgraduate School
(Information Obtained From Naval Postgraduate School Website)

The idea for a graduate program for naval officers first emerged in the 19th Century, but at first there was little support. With Marconi's invention of the 'wireless' in 1901, the Wright Brothers' first flight in 1903, and the world wide trek of the steam powered White Fleet from 1907 to 1909 the fact that advanced education for United States Naval Officers could be important soon gained more support.

The Great White Fleet completed its cruise in 1909, and less than four months later on June 9, 1909, George von L. Meyer, Secretary of the Navy, signed General Order Number 27, which established a school of Marine Engineering in Annapolis, Maryland.

This was a small program with only ten students and two instructors, but it would later become what is known as today's Naval Postgraduate School. The school was placed under the direction of the Naval Academy Superintendant, "who was charged with 'securing ample use of the educational plant of the Naval Academy to students and instructors of the school without interfering with the instruction of midshipmen' ". This set aside two rooms in the attic for classroom and laboratory space for the school.

On October 31, 1912 Meyer signed an order to rename the school the Postgraduate Department of the Naval Academy and established courses of study in ordnance and gunnery, electrical engineering, radio telegraphy, naval construction and civil engineering, and continued the original program in marine engineering. It also increased the number of students to 25.

Originally, before World War II, the present site of the Naval Postgrduate School was occupied by one of the finest luxuary hotels in North America, the Hotel Del Monte. Railroad pioneer Charles Crocker first opened the hotel in June 1880. The hotel was completely destroyed by fire in 1887, but a second, more splendid hotel soon opened in the same spot. On September 27, 1924 the Hotel Del Monte was again destroyed by fire, and again immediate construction of a more modern building continued to make the Hotel Del Monte one of the greatest showplaces for the rich and famous in the world.

By the time of the second reconstruction, Samuel F. B. Morse, predisent of the Del Monte Properties Company, had bought the hotel and developed it as a 'sports empire' where guests could play golf, polo, tennis, swimming, yachting, and deep sea fishing. THe hotel was named 'the most elegant seaside resort in the world' and was host to world leaders, dignitaries, American presidents, fild stars and artists until 1942 when it was taken over by the United States Navy and used as a pre-flight school for aviators.

During World War II Fleet Admiral Ernest King, was chief of Naval Operations and commander-in-chief of both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, established a commission to review the role of graduate education in the Navy. It soon became obvious the Naval Postgraduate School at teh Naval Academy in Annapolis would not be adequate for future needs, and in 1945 Congress passed legislation to make the school fully accredited and a degree-granting institution. Two years later Congress authorized he purchase of the Hotel Del Monte and 627 acres of land for the campus.

In December 1951, in a first of Naval education, the Naval Postgraduate School was moved from Annapolis, Maryland to Monterey, California, involving 500 students, 100 faculty and staff and thousands of pounds of books and research materials. The move was supervised by Rear Admiral Edward Hermann.

The main building of the Hotel Del Monte--now named Hermann Hall--contains the administrative offices of the Naval Postgraduate School. The most recent renovations include doubling the usable space of the libray, a new academic building (Glasgow Hall), and a new Mechanical Engineering Building. In 2006 a multi-million dollar renovation of the two wings of Hermann Hall was completed, which provided 140 Bachelor Officers Quarters rooms for international officers. In 2009 Hermann Hall will begin a series of renovations and refurbishments to restore the building's early 20th Century charm. The Naval Postgraduate School celebrates it 100th anniversary in 2009.

A Brief History of Monterey and Hotel Del Monte (Hermann Hall)

(Information Provided by the Naval Postgraduate School)

Hermann Hall, the former Hotel Del Monte, now contains hotel rooms for active duty and retired military to rent while in Monterey. We were amazed at the cost--for under $50.00 we got a suite with a kitchenette. The building was beautiful, and extremely clean. Outside we saw peacocks running around free. The grounds were beautifully landscaped. Below is the history and some random pictures of the building and grounds.

The Monterey Peninusula features Cannery Row (immortalized by author John Steinbeck), Pebble Beach, Cafrmel and the United States Naval Postgraduate School. First sighted in 1542, MOnterey's history began in 1770 when Father Junipero Serra founded the Mission San Carlos Borromeo there as the first in California's famed coastal mission chain.

These Catholic churches are spaced along California's Coast at approximately one day's journey by horseback. Portola was responsible for the Presidio.

Monterey was under Spanish and Mexican rule until 1846. On July 7th of that years Commodore John Drake SLoat, aboard U.S.S. Savannah, captured without ressistance, Monterey and the whole territory in the name of the United States. California became a state in 1850 with Monterey as the first capital.

Monterey established its present reputation as a resort area through the efforts of four tycoons (Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Collins P. Hunting, and Charles Crocker) who established the world famous resort Hotel Del MOnte in 1880.

The hotel, comprised of 126 acres of landscaped gardens planted with over 1200 trees, shrubs and flowers, located such facilities as guest houses, tennis courts, croquet fields, archery grounds and polo fields, not to mention its own railroad station, and a horse stall and 15 acre lake. On these grounds set a hotel, a castle-like Victorian Mansion. . . opulent, elegant and symmetric.

The hotel became a haven for the rich and famous. It hosted 17,000 visitors yearly, almost eight times the population of Monterey, which up until then had been a sleepy village of sardine fishermen, farmers, and reclusive artists. Disaster struck one year on April Fool's Day in 1887 when a fire swept through teh "grand dome of America" and reduced it to ashes. The hotel was rebuilt in only 100 days on an even more lavish scale and this time with two adjoining wings.

During the years that followed, the Del Monte was the place to visit. Notable great included Andrew Carnegie, President Benjamin Harrison, and the Rough Rider himself--Teddy Roosevelt.

In October 1924 fire struck again. To contain the fire, the ballroom was dynamited from the floor below, thus saving the two hotel wings which remain today.

In 1927 the hotel was again in operation as lavish as ever. However, the days of the Hotel Del Monte as a resort were numbered. The Great Depression and World War II proved too much for

the hotel's survival and the management offered to sell the hotel grounds. The Navy exercised its option to buy the hotel and 627 acres of land for 2.5 million dollars.

In 1951 The NAval Postgraduate School moved to Monterey, California from Annapolis, MAryland and adopted the main building of the former hotel as its administrative center. Several modern buildings were constructed as academic facilities.

The old hotel's guest cottages were used to house military staff officers and their families.

The old hotel's heritage is very much a part of the present school. According to local lore, the school has a friendly ghost who presumably is responsible for a variety of mysterious occurances. Over the years numerous people have reportedly seen this ghost in the ballroom, La Novia Room, and the Naval Postgraduate Dental Clinic. Some of the events attributed to the ghost are door opening and closing by themselves, faucets turning themselves on and off, shuffling and walking sounds and the breaking of dishes and glasses.

Whatever his reasons and whomever he is, the middle-aged man with a gray beard remains yet another in the already colorful past.

Club Del Monte

Club Del Monte in Hermann Hall continues the tradition of refinement of the historic Del Monte Hotel.

The original hotel established a reputation as "The Most Elegant Seaside Resort in the World" and "America's Most Loved Resort".

Living history paraded through its corridors as its notable guest list expanded, including Presidents McKinley, Hayes, Benjamin Harrison and Teddy Roosevelt, General William Tecumseh Sherman, General "Black Jack" Pershing, Charles Lindbergh, Hawaiian Monarch King Kalakaua and England's Marquis of Queensberry.

The list of personalities who helped make the Hotel Del Monte "the Queen of American Watering Places" is endless.

The Presidio at Monterey

We also visited the Presidio at Monterey, which is an Army base in Monterey. There really wasn't a lot to see when we got there, but as we drove on the base and went around a bend in the road five deer walked in front of our car--two fawns and three adults. I was really surprised because the area where they were was not woded and there were lots of buildings. I did find the history of the Presidio interesting, and so I am including it here. I got this information from the Official Presidio Site.

The military has played a vital role on the Monterey Peninsula since the area was claimed for Spain by Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602. Vizcaino named hte Bay Monterey, in honor of his benefactor, Gaspar de Zuniga, Conde de Monterey, then viceroy of New Spain (Mexico). The MOnterey Bay area was colonized by a small Spanish expedition that reached Monterey Bay in 1770. Captain Don Gaspar de Portola commanded the military component of this expedition, and Franciscan Father Junipero Serra was in charge of the religious element. Portola officially took possession of Alta (Upper) California for Spain, and Serra celebrated a thanksgiving mass on June 3, 1770. Portolo established a presidio (fort) and mission at the southern end of Monterey Bay the same day, in accordance with his orders to "erect a fort to occupy and defend the port from attacks by the Russians, who are about to invade us." The Monterey presidion was one of four presidios and 21 missions established by Spain in California.

The original Presidio consisted of a square of adobe buildings located near Lake El Estero in the vicinity of what is now downtown Monterey. The fort's original mission, the Royal Presidio Chapel, has remained in constant use since Serra established it in 1770. The original Presidion was protected by 11 cannons located above the port in a small "V" shaped gun emplacement, called El Castillo, built in 1792 on land now belonging to the present Presidio of Monterey. The original Presidio fell into disrepair, as Mexican rule replaced that of Spain in California in 1822.

Commodore John Drake Sloat, commanding the U. S> PAcific Squadron, seized Monterey in July 1846, during the Mexican-American War. He landed unopposed with a small force in MOnterey and claimed the territory and the Presidion for the United States. Sloat left a small garrison of Marines and seamen who began improving defenses, above the former El Castillo, to better protect the town and the harbor. The new defenses were named Fort Mervine in honor of Captain William MErvine, who commanded one of the ships in Sloat's squadron.

Company F, 3rd Artillery Regiment arrived in Monterey in January 1847, and the U. S. Army then assumed from the Navy the responsibility for the continuing construction of Fort Mervine. Two of the artillery lieutenants, William Tecunseh Sherman and E. O. C. Ord, plus Engineer Lieutenant Henry W. Halleck, were destined to become prominent generals during the Civil War, assisted with the project.

During its early history, this fortification seemed to have many names, including Fort Halleck, Fort Savannah, and the Monterey Redloubt. In 1852, the Monterey Redoubt was renamed the MOnterey Ordnance Depot and used as a military storehouse until 1856 when it was abandoned. In 1865, the small post was reopened and renamed, Ord Barracks for a short time before being abandoned a second time in 1866, although the U. S> Government "reserved" for possible future use a 140-acre reservation surrounding the redoubt.

Near the end of the Philippine Insurrection in 1902, the Army recognized it needed additional forts, particularly on the West Coast. As possible sites were being surveyed, the Army "discovered" that it already owned a large area in Monterey that would be suitable for a military post. In July 1902, the Army announced plans to build a cantonment area and station on infantry regiment in Monterey. The 15th InfantryRegiment, which had fought in China and the Philippines, arrived in Monterey in September 1902 and began building the cantonment area around what is now known as Soldier Field. The 1st squadron, 9th Cavalry, "Buffalo Soldiers," arrived shortly thereafter and built four cavalry barracks above Soldier Field.

In 1902, the Army renamed the new post the Monterey Military Reservation. The name changed to Ord BArracks on 13 July 1903, and to the Presidio of Monterey on 10 August 1904. Various infantry regiments rotated to the Presidio of Monterey, including the 15th Infantry (1902-1906), 20th Infantry (1906-1909), the 12th Infantry (1909-1917), frequently with supporting cavalry and artillery elements. The Army School of Musketry, the forerunner of the Infantry School, operated at the Presidio of Monterey from 1907 to 1913. In 1917, the U. S. War Department purchased a nearby parcel of 15,000 acres of land, called the Gigling Reservation, to use as trainning areas for the Presidio of Monterey troops. This post, aupplemented by additional acreage, was named Fort Ord on August 15, 1940.

The 11th Cavalry Regiment was posted at the Presidio from 1919 to 1940, and the 2nd Battalion, 76th Field Artillery Regiment, from 1922 to 1940. During the summer months, Presidio soldiers organized and led Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Citizens' Military Training Corps (CMTC), and Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) camps in the local area.

In 1940 the Presidio became the temporary headquaters of the III Corps, and served as a recwption center untl 1944. Declared inactive in late 1944, the Presidio was reopened in 1945 and served as a Civil Afairs Staging and Holding Area (CASA) for civil affairs soldiers preparing for the occupation of Japan.

The Defense Language Institute traces its roots to the eve of America's entry int World War II, when the U. S> Army established the Fourth U. S. Army Intelligence School at teh Presidio of San Francisco to teach the Japanes language. Classes at the secret school began November 1, 1941, with four instructors and 60 students in an abandoned airplane hangar at Crissy Field. The students were mostly second-generation Japanese-Americans(Nisel) from the West Coast. Nisel Hall is named in honor of these earliest students, whose heroism is portrayed in the Institute's Yankee Samurai exhibit. The headquarters building and academic library bear the names of the firs commandant, Colonel Kai E. Rasmussen, and the first director of academic training, John F. Aiso.

During the war, the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS), as it came to be called, grew dramatically. When Japanese-Amercans on the West Coast were moved into internment camps in 1942, the school moved to Camp Savage, Minnesota. By 1944 the school had outgrown these facilities and moved to nearby Fort Snelling. More than 6,000 graduates served throughout the Pacific Theater during the war and the subsequent occupation of Japan. Three academic buildings are named Nisel graduates who fell in action: George Nakamura, Frank Hachiya, and Y "Terry" Mizutari.

In 1946, after World War II, the MISLS moved to the Presidio of Monterey. It added Russian, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, and six other languages to its curriculum, and was renamed the Army Language School in 1947. The school expanded rapidly in 1947-48 to meet the requirements of America's global commitments during the Cold War. Instructors, including native speakers of more than thirty languages and dialects, were recuited from all over the world. Russian became the largest language program, followed by Chinese, Korean, and German. After the Korean War (1950-53), the school developed a national reputation for excellence in foreign language education. The Army Language School led the way with the audio-lingual method and the application of educational technology suce as the language laboratory.

In the 1950s, the U. S. Air Force met most of its foreign language training requirements through contract programs at universities such as Yale, Cornell, Indiana, and Syracuse. During this period, the U. S. Navy taught foreign languages at the Naval Intelligence School in Washington, D. C.

In 1963, to promote efficiency and economy, the three Service language programs were consolidated into the Defense Foreign LAnguage Program and former Army Language Commandant, Colonel James L. Collins, Jr., became the Institute's first director. The Army Language School became the Defense Language Institute's Wesgt Coast Branch, and the foreign language department at teh Naval Intelligence School became the Defense Language Institute's East Coast Branch and headquarters for the program. The Air Force programs were phased out by 1970 and the U. S. Air Force Language School for foreign military personnel at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, became the Defense Language Institute English Language Center.

During the peak of American involvement in Vietnam (1965-73), the Defense Language Institute stepped up the pace of language training. Whlie regular language training continued unabated, more than 20,000 service personnel studied Vietnamese through DLI's programs, many taking a special eight-week military adviser :survival" course. From 1966 to 1973, the Institute also operated DLI Support Command, later renamed DLI Southwest Branch to teach Vietnamese using contract instructors at Biggs Air Force Base near Fort Bliss, Texas. Dozens of the DLI;s graduates gave their lives during the war. Four student dormatories today bear the names of graduates who died in that conflict: Chief Petty Officer Frank W. Bomar (1970), Sergeant First Class Alfred H. Combs (1965), Marine Gunnery Sergeant George P. Kendall, Jr. (1968), and Staff Sergeant Herbert Smith, Jr. (1965).

When the U. S. Army Training and Doctrine Command was established in 1973, DLI was placed under its control. In 1974 the Institute's headquarters and all resident language training were consolidated at teh West Coastg Branch and renamed the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). The Institute continued to operae a small contract foreign language training program in Washington, D. C. and in 1976, all English language training operatons were returned to the U. S. Air Force, which operates DLIELC to this day. With the event of the All =-VOlunteer Forces and the opening of most specialities to women, the character of the student population underwent a gradual change.

Since the end of the Vietnam War, the Institute has experienced an exciting period of growth and change. The DLIFLC won academic accreditation in 199, and in 1981 the position of Academic Dean (later called Provost) was reestablished. A Joint-service General Officer Steering Committee was established in 1981 to advise on all aspects of teh Defense Foreign Language Program. This function is now performed by the Defense Language Steering Committee. In the early 1980s, a rise in student input forced the Institute to open two temporary branches: a branch for Air Force enlisted students of Russian at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas (1981-1987), and another for Army enlisted students of Russian, German, Korean, and Spanish at the Presidio of San Francisco (1982-1988). The increase in student input also resulted in an extensive facilities expansion program on the Presidio. Support to command langage programs worldwide grew, with greater availability of programs such as Gateway and Headstart.

DLIFLC was granted academic accreditation in 1979 in recognition of its status as the premier foreign language training institution in the world. During the 1980s instructor-to-student rations increased, with the intrroduction of advanced teaching techniques and information-age technology the average language proficiency of its graduates steadily increased.

For many years, DLIFLC was a tenet activity on the Presidio of Monterey, and the Presidio was a sub-installation of the nearby Fort Ord. When Fort Ord closed on 30 September 1994, the Presidio of Monterey again became a separate installation under TRADOC. It retained some military family housing and support facilities at the former Fort Ord, such as the Post Exchange and Commissary in the 740-acre Ord Military Community. When the Army established the Installation Management Agency, on 1 October 2003, the Presidio of Monterey Garrison was separated from TARADOC, although the garrison continued to support the main tenant, DLIFLC. On 24 October 2006, all Army garrisons were realigned under the U. S. Army Installation Management Command to provide better service throughout the Army.

In 1993, 1995, and again in 2005, the BAse Realignment and Closure Commission, in recognition of the contributions of DLIFLC to national security, rejected suggestions that the Institute be moved or closed and recommended that its misson be contintued at teh Presidio of Monterey. In December 2001, the U. S. Congress gave DLIFLC authority to grand an Associate of Arts in Foreign Language degree. Since DLIFLC first began awarding associate degrees in May 2002, the institute has granted over 3,500 degrees in foreign languages.

In recent years, the Institute has taken on challenging new missions, including support for arms control treaty verification, the War on Drugs, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Restore Hope, and Operations Enduring Freedom and Nobel Eagle. In response to the terroist attacks of September 11, 2001, DLIFLC created teh Emerging Languages Task Force, which serves as the Institute;s quick-response language team that provides rapid solutions to current and emerging mission needs for the ZGlobal War on Terrorism.

The DLIFLC contintues to evolve and expand its language course offerings in the wake of the end of the Cold War and to support the Global War on Terrorism. To accomplish this mission more instructors were recruited and new instructional materials and tests were written. Teaching methodology became more and more proficiency-oriented and new steps were taken to further increase proficiency of graduates with the introduction of the Proficiency Enhancement Plan (PEP). In the more difficult languages, (Category 3 and 4), PEP proficiency decreased trhe student-faculty ration from 10:2 to 6:2. In easier language categories, (Category 1 and 2), PEP decreasedthe student faculty ration from 10:2 to 8:2. The Institute also developed a new series of the Defense Language Proficiency Test, the DLPT 5, delivered through the Web.

The institute also offers continuing education to linguists all over the globe the the establishment of Language Training Detachments locatred at sites with high concentrations of linguists and via Internet training programs such as the Global Language Online Support System (GLOSS). With the increased realization of the importance of knowing different cultures, DLIFLC also offers Web-based area studies courses to non-linguists through Countries in PErspective and direct language and cultural understanding support to deploying troops.

Today, DLIFLC continues to evolve and expand its language course offerings in support of the Global War on Terrorism. Currently training over 3,700 resident students in 22 languages and dialects yearly on the Presidio, the institute also offers over 80 different language programs therough the DLI-Washington contract program.