Presidio Park in San Diego occupies the hill where the San Diego Presidio and the first San Diego Mission were founded in 1769, settlements widely regarded as the first European communities on the present-day West Coast of the United States. The mission moved upriver in 1773, while the presidio remained until its military purpose faded and settlement shifted to Old Town; by 1835 it was already in ruins. During the Mexican–American War, the U.S. Army established Fort Stockton there. The modern park was largely preserved through George Marston, who bought the hill in 1907, created a private park, and donated it to the city in 1929.