St. Francis Barracks

St. Francis Barracks is a historic structure constructed of coquina stone located on Marine Street in St. Augustine, Florida, named in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. The barracks were constructed between 1724 and 1755 by friars of the Order of St. Francis, to replace a series of wooden buildings which had been destroyed by the ravages of the tropical climate in La Florida and by fire, both accidental fires and occasional intentional ones, such as when the city was razed by the English in 1702.The barracks were turned into a military structure by the British in 1763, after Florida became a British possession at the conclusion of the French and Indian War. At that time, the Franciscan friars vacated St. Augustine, along with a majority of the other Spanish residents.

The name St. Francis Barracks also came to be applied to the larger military reservation which developed around the barracks on the shore of the Matanzas River.