Franciscan friars raised the coquina walls of St. Francis Barracks between 1724 and 1755, naming the place for St. Francis of Assisi. Between 1724 and 1755 friars of the Order of St. Francis erected these walls to replace earlier wooden buildings that the tropical climate and fires—both accidental and, at times, intentional—had destroyed. Remember that the city itself was razed by the English in 1702, a dramatic reminder of how often this place has been remade.
In 1763, after Florida became a British possession at the conclusion of the French and Indian War, the barracks were converted into a military structure and the Franciscan friars, along with a majority of other Spanish residents, vacated St. Augustine. The name St. Francis Barracks later came to mean more than this single building; it applied to the larger military reservation that grew along the shore of the Matanzas River and included senior military officer housing and The King’s Bakery. The King’s Bakery is notable here as the only extant structure in St. Augustine constructed entirely within the twenty-year period of the British occupation.
Picture friars, soldiers, and officers who all called this coquina compound home along the Matanzas River.