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ANCON HILL HISTORY - OCCUPANTS

 

 

QUARRY HEIGHTS -- HISTORY

(1916-1997)

The following publication (text only) on the history of Quarry Heights was one of a series of publications under the Legacy Resource Management Program  prepared for United States Army South (USARSO) through the Directorate of Engineering and Housing (DEH), United States Army Garrison-Panama, and by Graves + Klein Architects, Engineers of Pensacola, Florida

 Parts of the text and some of the photos in the printed copy had been extracted and used in the short history of Quarry Heights on this website (GO TO).

            
                A History of Quarry Heights
                 Military Reservation


                  The Former Panama Canal Zone
                       Republic of Panama


          The United States and The Republic of Panama:
                  Our Shared Cultural Heritage


This publication, a Legacy Resource Management Program
demonstration project, was prepared for United States Army South
(USARSO) through the Directorate of Engineering and Housing
(DEH), United States Army Garrison-Panama, and by Graves + Klein
Architects, Engineers of Pensacola, Florida.  The purpose of this
project is to document the available records and to provide a
brief history of Quarry Heights Military Reservation prior to its
transfer to the Republic of Panama., Other brochures documenting
the histories of other Department of Defense installations in
Panama are available from the DEH.


Researched and Compiled by:
     Suzanne P. Johnson,
     Cultural Resources Specialist
     Consultant to Graves + Klein

Editor:
     Richard M. Houle
     Chief, Engineering Division,
     Directorate of Engineering and Housing,
     United States Army South

Technical Advice:
     Ivan Klasovsky
     Chief, Plans and Property Branch,
     Directorate of Engineering and Housing,
     United States Army South

Historical/Technical Advisor:
     Dr. John Pitts
     Historian, United States Southern Command

Editing/Design/Coordination:
     Don Carlos, Architect
     Graves + Klein Architects, Engineers


Any additional information or sources of documentation would be
greatly appreciated and may be forwarded to:

HQ, U.S. Army Garrison - Panama
Unit 7151 Box 51
ATTN:  SOCO-EH-E (Legacy)
APO AA 34004-5000

Publication Information


Contents

Historical Overview-----------------------------------   4
Introduction------------------------------------------   6
Ancon Hill--------------------------------------------   9
The Rock Quarry---------------------------------------  18
The Marines-------------------------------------------  20
Quarry Heights Military
Reservation-------------------------------------------  24
The Buildings-----------------------------------------  29
The United States
Southern Command--------------------------------------  62
Commanding Officers-----------------------------------  69
Photo Credits-----------------------------------------  73
Acknowledgments---------------------------------------  77
Endnotes----------------------------------------------  78
Bibliography------------------------------------------  81


                       Historical Overview
                                
Quarry Heights has been the nerve center for U.S. Military forces
in Panama since 1920 and for all U.S. Forces deployed in the
Southern Theater since 1947.  Transferred to the Army by the
Panama Canal Commission in 1914, Quarry Heights served as a troop
encampment, military police post, and senior officer housing area
for six years.  During this time, the Army upgraded the post to
make it suitable for use as the headquarters of the ranking
military commander in Panama.  Subsequently, Quarry Heights was
the headquarters location for the Commander, U.S. Army Panama
Canal Department (I 920-194 1); Commander, U.S. Army Caribbean
Defense Command (I 941-1947); Commander in Chief, U.S. Caribbean
Command (1947-1963); and Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern
Command (I 963-present).  Quarry Heights' role as a military
command center will end in 1998, when proprietorship of the
reservation will be passed to the Republic of Panama.

Quarry Heights is situated on two man-mad terraces created by
quarrying on the slope of Ancon Hill.  The Hill, which rises 654
feet from the bay at its foot, has been a key geographical
reference point in Panama for nearly 400 years.  This is due to
its proximity to Panama City and its commanding 360-degree view
encompassing the Pacific Ocean approach to the Isthmus of Panama
and the Panamanian hinterland seven to ten miles to the west,
east, and north.

Quarry Heights had its beginning in February, 1909, when the
Isthmian Canal Commission began quarrying rock for construction
of the Miraflores and Pedro Miquel locks.  Locals soon dubbed the
area Quarry Heights.  The Commission closed the quarry after five
years, having removed more than 3.2 million cubic yards of rock.

Canal officials transferred the quarry shelves to the U.S. Army
in 1914 for use as a Canal Zone Army command post.  For nearly
six years, however, Quarry Heights served other purposes: troop
encampment, military police barracks, and senior officer housing.
The Commander of U.S. Forces selected the site for his
headquarters in 1915, but the small area of the shelves hindered
necessary development.  Pending acquisition of additional land
and construction of buildings, the Commander operated from Canal
Commission offices in nearby Ancon.

Meanwhile, the Army expedited construction required for other
uses.  Engineers erected administrative offices and barracks for
the military police post, using immediately available materials.
The major construction, however, involved erection of quarters
for senior officers.  By recycling frame quarters originally
built as 'run of the job' housing for senior officials at
temporary construction camps, the Army erected 24 quarters, along
with other buildings, between 1915 and 1919.  Quarters #1, the
Commander in Chief s quarters erected at its present location in
mid- 1 91 5, was the first permanent quarters erected in Quarry
Heights.  The first 'office' building, Building #84, began as a
motion picture hall.  It now houses the Post Office and a
conference center.

World War I brought to light the strategic importance of the
Panama Canal and the U.S. Military presence in the Zone and
spurred development of Quarry Heights for use as the headquarters
for the Army's new Panama Canal Department.  At President
Wilson's behest, the Commission transferred an additional 100
acres to Quarry Heights Military Reservation, and the Army
expedited construction of necessary buildings.

In April, 1920, the Commander of the Panama Canal Department
formally established his headquarters in Quarry Heights and
unwittingly set the future direction of the former rock quarry.
Quarry Heights was destined to remain the headquarters for the
ranking command in Panama for more than three-quarters of a
century.


                          Introduction

Since Columbus' 'discovery' of the New World, it was inevitable
that the history of the area that is now called the Republic of
Panama would be tied with that of other nations.  The Isthmus, at
places barely fifty miles wide, links the Western Hemisphere and
separates the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  The result of this
natural phenomenon of nature is that the history and culture of
the people of the Republic of Panama has been integral with that
of other nations, including the United States of America.

One of the first to recognize the commercial potential of a canal
across the isthmus was the Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de
Balboa, the 'discoverer' of the Pacific Ocean.  After serious
consideration, Spain's King Charles I rejected a Canal proposal,
concluding that "if God wanted the oceans to meet He would have
built the canal Himself."'

In the early 1880's, La Compagnie Universelle du Canal
Interoceanique, a French company headed by Count Ferdinand de
Lesseps, arrived on the Isthmus to begin construction of a canal
that would connect the oceans.  Seemingly insurmountable health
problems due to the tropical climate resulted in an overwhelming
number of deaths.  This, combined with the economic failure of
the Company, led to the early capitulation of the French Canal
construction effort.  The French sold the rights to construct a
canal to the United States in 1903.

The United States, and in particular the U.S. Army Medical Corps
and the Corps of Engineers, eventually conquered and tamed the
diseases which had destroyed so many lives and was able to
complete an engineering feat which has yet to be rivaled.
Following the completion of the canal, a large number of U.S.
Citizens remained on the Isthmus to operate, maintain and defend
it.

While much has been written about the Panama Canal itself, very
little has been written about the Department of Defense
installations and properties constructed to support the U.S.
Military mission of defending the Canal.  There is a great need
to document these installations, the majority of which are of
historical and architectural significance and which represent a
very unique era in the social history of both the United States
and Panama.

By noon, December 31, 1999, full and final proprietorship of the
Panama Canal and its support and defense systems will be passed
to the Republic of Panama, and a unique American experience will
have come to an end.  The physical legacy to the people of
Panama, which includes the Quarry Heights Military Reservation,
will remain as part of the United States' rich contribution to
the cultural heritage of Panama.

One of the first tracts of land to be officially set aside for
the uses of a military reservation was the Quarry Heights
Military Reservation.  Located on Ancon Hill, Quarry Heights has,
at different times, been used as a rock quarry, a Marine Corps
camp, headquarters for the U.S. Army Forces, and headquarters of
the United States Southern Command.

Quarry Heights Military Reservation is a picturesque historic
district composed of buildings which date back to the Canal
Construction Era.  These buildings, primarily family housing
units, reflect an architectural style unique to the Panama Canal
area -- a style which incorporated both French and American
design elements for living in a hot and humid tropical climate.


                           Ancon Hill

Since the arrival of the French on the Isthmus of Panama in 1879,
Ancon Hill played a major role in plans for the construction of
the Panama Canal.  The hill, which overlooks the city of Panama
from a height of 636 feet, takes its name from the Spanish word
Ancon, which means 'anchorage.'

The French Canal Company located its main hospital near the top
of Ancon Hill.  L'Hospital Notre Dame du Canal included nearly
seventy buildings and a "full-time staff of doctors and nurses,
the Filles de la Charite."2  Doctor Louis Companyo, who had
served as chief of the sanitary division of the Suez Canal, was
appointed physician-in-charge.  The facility was appraised by Dr.
William C. Gorgas as "a very much better institution than any in
the United States... at the same period carried on by a firm or
corporation."3

Unfortunately, despite being "a very much better institution,"
the hospital became a virtual death trap to those who sought
health.  "In the lovely gardens, surrounding the hospital,
thousands of ring-shaped pottery dishes filled with water to
protect plants and flowers from [the destructive 'leaf cutter']
ants provided perfect breeding places for mosquitoes.  Even in
the sick wards themselves the legs of the beds were placed in
shallow basins of water, again to keep the ants away, and there
were no screens in any of the windows or doors.  Patients were
placed in the wards according to nationality, rather than by
disease, with the results that every ward had its malaria and
yellow-fever cases.  As Dr. Gorgas was to write, had the French
been consciously trying to propagate malaria and yellow fever,
they could not have provided conditions better suited for the
purpose."4

On November 18,1903, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty gave the U.S.
the right "in perpetuity" to construct, maintain and defend an
interoceanic waterway across the Isthmus.  The U.S. would
exercise rights, powers and authority "as if it were Sovereign of
the territory".  On May 19, 1904, the United States of America,
represented by the Governor of the Panama Canal Zone, officially
proclaimed 'Acquisition Day,' thus starting the occupation of the
Isthmus of Panama.

In 1905, the name of the hospital was changed by gubernatorial
decree to Ancon Hospital.  In 1914, a committee was appointed to
submit recommendations to the Governor of the Panama Canal Zone
for replacing the old French buildings with a new, permanent
hospital complex.  The new, state-of-the-art hospital complex was
completed by 1919.

The name of the medical facility remained Ancon Hospital until
1928 when, by a Joint Resolution of Congress, it was renamed in
memory of Major General William Crawford Gorgas, the first Chief
Sanitary Officer of the Panama Canal Zone, "for his work in
ridding the Isthmus of the 'edes aegypti mosquito, the vector of
the dread yellow fever which had taken such a terrible toll in
human suffering and death during the early Canal construction
days."5

In accordance with the provisions of the Panama Canal Treaty of
1977, jurisdiction over the Gorgas Hospital complex was
transferred to the United States Department of Defense on October
1, 1979.

One of the earliest residences constructed by the French on Ancon
Hill was for General Director Jules Isidore Dingler, Chief
Engineer of the French Canal Company from 1883 to 1885.  A
large, wood-framed chateau, or villa, was constructed for the
Dingler family, who arrived on the Isthmus on March 1, 1883.
Included in the entourage were Mrs. Dingler, a son and daughter,
and the daughter's fiance.

While awaiting the completion of Casa Dingler on Ancon Hill, the
family set up housekeeping in Panama City, in "a large,
comfortable house on the Avenida Central, just off Cathedral
Plaza."6  Within a short period of time, however, yellow fever
left its mark on the family -- first the daughter, then the son,
and finally the fianc , died.  Following the death of Mrs.
Dingler on January 2, 1885, the General Director left the
country.  The Dingler family never lived in the house on Ancon
Hill.

The Isthmian Canal Commission (ICQ subsequently used the house as
a smallpox isolation house and as a quarantine detention station
until 191 0, when the building was demolished in order to
accommodate the extension of the Ancon rock quarry.

Like the French Canal Company, the ICC found Ancon Hill to be a
choice piece of property.  After rehabilitating the old French
hospital buildings, a cemetery was established on the slope of
one of the hills.  Among those buried at Ancon Cemetery were
approximately 40 sailors and marines who were originally buried
at the Flamenco Island cemetery between 1850 and 1890.

In 1914, the entire cemetery was moved to the newly established
Corozal Cemetery in order to make room for permanent construction
on the site.

While making changes in the water system near Ridge Road in
Balboa Heights, a headstone was discovered at the site of the
former Ancon Cemetery.  The headstone had marked the grave of
Thomas Collins, a young private in the United States Marines who
died of typhoid fever on March 11, 1863, while on duty aboard the
US. St.  Mary stationed in the Pacific Ocean.  The body had been
exhumed from Flamenco Island and re-interred at Ancon Cemetery,
but the headstone was overlooked during the grave relocation
process in 1914.

As the facilities on Ancon Hill grew, plans for the Ancon area
were expanded.  These plans included the erection of a number of
buildings on the lower slopes of the hill between the hospital
and the city of Panama.  The sites selected for this construction
were not included in the Panama Canal Treaty of 1903, so a joint
commission was appointed in January of 1905 to assess the value
of the property.

In order to provide additional fire protection to Ancon, Panama
City, and La Boca, a million gallon water reservoir was
constructed on the south side of Ancon Hill in 1909.

In August of 1905, construction was begun on a large hotel on the
El Tivoli property.  Completed in October 1906, the Tivoli Hotel,
which was constructed of wood siding and brick, accommodated a
number of famous guests, one of the first of whom was President
Theodore Roosevelt.

During a three-day inspection tour of Canal Construction in
November, 1906, President Roosevelt, accompanied by Mrs.
Roosevelt and a small party, stayed at the Tivoli.  This marked
"the first time any American President had left the United States
while President."7  Sadly, the Tivoli Hotel was demolished in
1982, and the site is now used as the headquarters of the
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

The Isthmian Canal Commission had established its construction
headquarters at the Culebra Cut.  On August 2, 1905, by
resolution of the executive committee of the ICC, authorization
was granted for the construction at Ancon Hill of "an
administration building containing 70 rooms suitable for
offices."8  Among the offices located in this building were the
ICC police and sanitation department as well as the headquarters
of the Canal Zone government.

Ancon Hill was also chosen as the site for the permanent
residence of the Governor of the Panama Canal Zone, and
construction of the building was begun in 1906.  The three-story
concrete block structure "was to have had 15 bedrooms, each with
its own bath, a roof garden, and a 55 by 48 foot drawing room.
Between 12 and 15 servants would have been necessary to keep it
up."9

Chief Engineer Stevens redesignated the structure for
administrative purposes.  Within ten years, the building became
the Panama Canal Zone's U.S. District Court building.

In 1909, several of the offices on the second floor of this
building were made available to the Panama Canal Department to be
used as headquarters for the United States troops in the Canal
Zone.  U.S. Army administrative headquarters remained in this
building until moving permanently to Quarry Heights Military
Reservation in April of 1920.

On May 24, 1912, the committee appointed to consider a site for
the permanent Panama Canal Administration Building reported its
recommendations.  The site selected was "on the knoll, west of
Ancon quarry, and directly east of the main track leading to the
quarry."10  Construction began in 1914 on the Italiante style
administrative headquarters building.

Designed by architect Austin W. Lord of the New York City
architectural firm Lord, Hewlett, and Tallant, the building was
ready for occupancy on July 15, 1914.  It was the first of the
permanent ICC buildings to be completed.

In 1914, following the first interoceanic transit through the
Panama Canal, the residence of Chief Engineer Goethals in Culebra
was dismantled, moved by rail, and re-erected on the site of the
former tuberculosis ward of the old French hospital in Balboa
Heights.

This building remained the official residence of the Governor of
the Panama Canal Zone until that agency was abolished in 1979, in
compliance with the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977.  The building is
currently the official residence of the Administrator of the
Panama Canal Commission.


                         The Rock Quarry

Large quantities of building materials, including stone and
concrete, were required in the construction of the three sets of
canal locks.  A quarry located at Porto Bello on the Caribbean
coast provided stone and concrete for, the Gatun Locks.  After
considering several locations on the Pacific coast, including
Cocoli Hill, Sosa Hill and "the hills north of Corozal,"11  an
area on the western side of Ancon Hill was selected as the site
for the Pacific side rock quarry.

The Ancon Quarry began operation on February 10, 1909.  Part of
the quarry operation involved the on-site crushing of stone for
use in making concrete.  Dynamite and steam shovels were used to
loosen and remove large blocks of stone from the rock faces.  The
stone was then loaded by steam shovel onto conveyor cars and
transported to the crusher plant.  There the stone was broken
into pieces approximately five inches in diameter before falling
onto a conveyor belt.  From the conveyor belt, the material was
dumped into bins and transported to the construction site.

Accidents were rare at the rock quarry, but they did occur.  Two
such accidents involved premature dynamite explosions.  The
first, which occurred on August 30, 1910, resulted in the death
of four laborers; the second occurred on July 19, 191 1, in which
four men were killed and two others were seriously injured.

Evidence of the concrete foundation of the quarry and rock
crusher operations are still visible at Quarry Heights in the
jungle in front of and between Quarters #18 and Quarters #20.

Since 1855, the United States Marine Corps has been represented
on the Isthmus of Panama.  The first marine troops were stationed
on the Isthmus to protect the Western Hemisphere's first
transcontinental railroad.

Construction of the Panama Railroad was initiated in 1847.
Between 1855 and'1866 nearly 400,000 people -- many of whom were
would-be goldminers on their way to California -- crossed the
Isthmus of Panama.  "Marine landing forces were obliged to
intervene several times"12  in order to expedite the heavy
traffic and to protect travelers and government property.

This intervention on the part of U.S. Military troops was
authorized by the Bidlack Treaty of 1846 between the United
States and the Republic of Colombia.  At that time, the Isthmus
of Panama was under Colombian dominance, and the treaty
guaranteed "the neutrality of the Isthmus and the maintenance of
free transit there."13

The Panama Railroad was sold to the French Canal Company in June
of 1881, and was subsequently acquired by the U.S. Government in
1904.

In November of 1903, during the period when Panama was asserting
its independence from the Republic of Colombia, a force of nearly
1,400 additional Marines arrived on the Isthmus.  These troops
were originally stationed at Mount Hope on the Caribbean side of
the Isthmus and at Diablo on the Pacific side, and were "detailed
to keep the Panama Railroad open to traffic and to protect U.S.
Government property."14

Throughout the Canal construction period, Marines were stationed
at Camp Elliott, "on a hill near Bas Obispo,"15  and at Camp Otis
"on the western edge of the Culebra Cut."16

The Marine Drum and Bugle Corps frequently entertained at social
and patriotic events, such as the Isthmian Canal Commission's
annual Fourth of July celebration.

During the Canal construction era, "the Marine Brigade concerned
itself largely with becoming familiar with the country.  Numerous
scouting parties went out with the object of studying the
surrounding area and gathering data for topographical maps.  They
thoroughly reconnoitered and mapped all of the trails in the
vicinity and located the principal terrain features.  They
devoted considerable time to making reconnaissance and studies
for the defense of the Canal."17

Immediately prior to the completion of the Canal, a large
reservation was "set apart for the permanent quarters of a
detachment of marines."18  The site chosen for the reservation
was on Ancon Hill, at the former Ancon Rock Quarry, and on March
4, 1913, funds for construction were appropriated by Congress.
Plans for the Marine camp included several 150-man barracks,
officers' quarters, administration buildings, and a parade
ground.  The design of the buildings was to be determined by
naval authorities in Washington.

The plans for the Marine camp on the quarry site were abandoned
on January 21, 1914, when the Marines were "withdrawn and
transferred to duty with the Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Vera
Cruz, Mexico"," where they faced the forces of Pancho Villa.


               Quarry Heights Military Reservation

The United States Army, represented by the 10th Infantry, arrived
for duty on the Isthmus on October 4, 1911. After the departure
of the Marines in 1914, the Army troops assumed full
responsibility for the defense of the Panama Canal.  During the
final three years of Canal construction, these troops were
stationed at temporary sites near Culebra and Colon.

Following the completion of the Canal, the Army garrison sought a
new location for its headquarters near the new Panama Canal
Administration headquarters building on Ancon Hill.  The
temporary Marine camp at the former rock quarry was selected.

Besides being geographically close to the new headquarters
building of The Panama Canal, Quarry Heights provided "unexcelled
visibility over the immediate surrounding population areas as
well as South over the sea approaches to the Canal."20

By the end of 1914, with "the holocaust [of World War I] then
raging in Europ"21  plans for the "creation of comprehensive
security of this key link in our 'two ocean Navy' grand
strategy"22 were accelerated.  Military forces on the Isthmus
were redesignated as the United States Army Forces in the Canal
Zone, "with an Army General Officer exercising overall command"23
At the same time, the role of the military troops Gasoline
Station & Fire Station, 1923 changed "from what was primarily a
duty of maintenance of law and order within the Canal
construction forces to that of protection of the Canal waterway
against threat of attack from other nations of the world."24

By 1916, the population of Quarry Heights totaled 225, including
16 officers, 190 enlisted men, 10 women, and 9 children.  During
that year, a number of 'anti-mosquito' construction projects,
including the laying of sidewalks, roads and concrete drains,
were undertaken at the installation.

The 134.4-acre Quarry Heights Reservation was officially "set
apart for military purposes"25 and named by General Order dated
December 22, 1919.  Although the reservation was subsequently
enlarged by the addition of several acres, Quarry Heights was
considered "too small for the planned 'supreme' [Army]
Headquarters,"26 and the site was considered temporary.

In April of 1920, the commander-in-chief of all Army troops
stationed on the Isthmus was designated Commanding General,
Panama Canal Department, with headquarters at Quarry Heights.
Under his command fell the Panama Canal Division and the Coast
Artillery Command, which incorporated all Infantry and Coast
Artillery troops on the Isthmus of Panama.

The Coast Artillery guarded the entrances to the Canal from Forts
Sherman and Randolph on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus, and
from Forts Amador and Grant on the Pacific side.  Infantry troops
were responsible for defending and protecting the locks
themselves.  By 1925, Infantry troops were stationed at five
installations, including Fort Davis and Camp Gatun (at the Gatun
Locks), Camps Elliott and Gaillard (near the Pedro Miguel Locks)
and Fort Clayton (at the Miraflores Locks).

In addition to the Commanding General and his Staff, a number of
units were stationed at the Quarry Heights Military Reservation
during its early years.  These included Company A, Military
Police Company, which furnished the guard at the installation; a
Touring Car Detachment, "consisting of one officer and forty-four
enlisted men under the administrative direction of the Department
Motor Officer;27 " Company E, 33rd Infantry; Motor Company #29,
the Quartermaster Corps; and Motorcycle Company #10,
Quartermaster Corps.

The earliest Provost Marshal troops assigned to Quarry Heights
included Company F, 33rd Infantry.


                          The Buildings

Because of the immediate need for housing at the Quarry Heights
Army headquarters, it was decided that temporary facilities would
be erected until such time as funding and time were made
available for the construction of permanent structures.  The
history of these temporary facilities, many of which are still in
use at Quarry Heights, originated with the French and early U.S.
canal construction eras.

Upon arriving on the Isthmus in 1904, the Isthmian Canal
Commission found that, on the whole, "a very great deal of the
work of organization, sanitation, and preparation to build the
canal had been done"28 by the French Canal companies.  In
addition to leaving the Americans their maps, surveys and
equipment, the French left approximately 2,000 wooden structures
"of various types, sizes, and styles of construction."29 The
majority of these buildings were immediately rehabilitated to a
livable standard.  Perhaps more importantly, the design of the
buildings provided the ICC architects a basis for the design of
their own new facilities.

The majority of the excavation work undertaken by the French had
occurred in the area of the Culebra Cut.  Here the ICC found
several towns which they would further develop as temporary
construction camps for laborers and administrative personnel.


                       THE FIRST BUILDINGS
                           (1906-1914)

Following the completion of the Canal, dozens of these Isthmian
Canal Commission communities and labor camps were deemed
unnecessary.  The Culebra Headquarters Building of the Canal
Commission was abandoned, and a new Headquarters Building was
constructed in Balboa, the newly created Capitol of the Panama
Canal Zone.  Many of the temporary labor camps and towns were
flooded by the creation of Gatun Lake; others were abandoned to
the jungle, and in several cases complete towns were turned over
to the military.  Two of the ICC towns turned over to the Army to
be used as installations were Empire and Culebra.

The town of Empire, called Emperador by the local population, was
taken over by the Army on November 25, 1914.  Empire had been
founded by the Panama Railroad Company in the early 1850's during
the construction of the railroad.  In 1904, the population of the
town was 2,000.  The Isthmian Canal Commission set about re-
building the community, which at its peak included houses, a
jail, office buildings, a mess hall, an ice platform,
storehouses, an emergency hospital, a commissary, a clubhouse, a
machine shop, a boiler shop, a blacksmith shop, a car repair
shop, a lavatory building, a hospital waiting shed, and a stable.

The town of Culebra (from the Spanish word meaning 'snake') was
taken over by the Army on March 25, 1915.  The majority of the
town was converted into a military camp, named Camp Gaillard by
order of the Adjutant General, in honor of Lieutenant Colonel
David DuBois Gaillard who died on December 5, 1913.  Lieutenant
Colonel Gaillard was further memorialized when the Culebra Cut
was named in his honor by Executive Order on April 27, 1915.

As Chief of the Central Division, LTC Gaillard was the individual
responsible for the excavation of the cut at the continental
divide.

Camp Gaillard was abandoned as an Army post on October 8, 1927.
Today all that remains are macadamized streets, concrete
sidewalks, and stairs covered by jungle growth.

A number of buildings from the towns of Empire and Culebra,
including more than a dozen ICC Type-20 houses, were disassembled
piece by piece, "each section carefully numbered,30 " transported
by railroad and truck to Quarry Heights, and re-erected at the
military reservation.  This reduced the cost of new construction
by about one-third and helped to preserve this rich architectural
heritage.  These buildings, which included "all types and
classes,"" were re-erected "in either their original design or
under modified plans.32 "

Between 1915 and 1920, quarters were re-erected at Quarry Heights
"as the need for them arose. "33  In 1915, the Building Division
of The Panama Canal re-erected five Type-8 houses, one Type-21
house, one Type-20 house, and several staff officers' quarters.

Much of the architectural design and planning at Culebra and
Empire (as well as other ICC communities) can be credited to Mr.
P.O. Wright, Jr., an architect who understood the appropriateness
of the original French buildings for the tropical Isthmian
climate.

Mr. Wright and his team of draftsmen developed nearly twenty
separate designs for residences (for both married and single
employees), all of which met the requirements of "the Isthmian
climate, the material available, the character of the building
sites, with the necessary restrictions imposed by the sanitary
department, and the official status of the employees."34 The
housing designs included "plenty of openings for ventilation; and
every opening, including verandas, [was] provided with fine
copper screening in order to, just as far as practicable, exclude
all mosquitoes."35

The walls and ceilings of the wood frame buildings were usually
devoid of either plastering or wall paper, with simple board-and-
beading interior walls.  These interior walls were usually
painted or stained, resulting in "very pleasant effects.... with
the cheapest wood at a minimum of cost."36

All of the ICC 'type' housing contained "a great deal of veranda
space, some of them being entirely surrounded thereby."37  These
verandas provided ventilation and a fresh breeze to the
inhabitants during the days before air conditioning.  Roofs were
typically made of corrugated, galvanized iron, which was found
"to be the most practicable one for use on the Isthmus on account
of the cheapness and quickness with which it can be built, and
the least liability to leaks.  All corrugated iron roofs [were]
provided with large ventilators, and it [had] been found that the
heat from the roof [was] not noticeable in the rooms below if a
space [were] left between the ceiling and the roof."38

While all ICC housing was provided with sanitary plumbing and
electric lighting, only the better classes of houses were
provided with a 'dry room,' or 'dry closet' These small rooms,
in which a lamp or electric light bulb was kept burning, held the
family's clothes, belts, books, and other natural-fiber articles.
When closed tight, the room dried the articles placed there, and
protected them from mold and mildew.

Although the temporary wooden structures erected during the Canal
Construction Era were intended only to "withstand the effects of
the climate for ten or twelve years,"39  more than a dozen
Isthmian Canal Commission houses remain at Quarry Heights -- a
testament to the Canal Construction Era.  Along with the official
residence of the Administrator of the Panama Canal Commission,
the original wood structures at Quarry Heights are the only
surviving examples of this period and style of architecture.

Other wood structures that where moved to Balboa and Ancon for
housing employees of The Panama Canal were replaced with concrete
structures in the late 1920's and early 1930's.

The most destructive enemy of these historic quarters, "next to
the rotting effects of the damp climate, [was for many years] the
isthmus ant, almost infinite in variety, illimitable in numbers,
and untiring and really diabolical in activity."40  Today, we
recognize the 'isthmus ant' as the termite.

Throughout the life of these wood frame buildings, a variety of
methods aimed at preventing termite infestation have been
undertaken.  One such early method was the 'termite guards' -
metal plates smeared with creosote and attached to and
surrounding the foundations, raising the structure off the
ground.  Usually successful, "the activity of these pests is
illustrated by their having used a strand of a spider's web as
support for a tunnel to advance over the edge of [the] metal
plate whence they proceeded upward to the wood."41

More recently, chemicals have been used to treat the termite-
infested buildings.  After sealing the structure with a gas-tight
tarpaulin, methyl bromide is introduced into the infested lumber,
killing dry-wood termite colonies.  For treating subterranean
termites, holes must be drilled into the ground and chemicals
introduced.


                       OFFICIAL RESIDENCE,
                           QUARTERS #1

Following completion of Canal construction, the Army consolidated
all of its military forces under the command of the senior line
officers on duty in the Panama Canal Zone and upgraded his rank
to Brigadier General.  This made the Army Commander senior to all
other military officers in the Canal Zone, including the
governor.  It also required a set of quarters commensurate to the
status of a Brigadier General.

Quarters #1, the first set of quarters to be erected in Quarry
Heights, has been the official residence of the highest ranking
military officer in Panama since its reconstruction on July 15,
1915.  The quarters originated as one of many 'run of the job'
houses constructed in temporary communities and later dismantled
and moved to other locations after the Canal period.  The
structure was very likely the residence of the Military Governor
in the town of Culebra, headquarters for Canal construction.

Brigadier General Clarence E. Edwards was the first Army
commander to reside at Quarters #1, although he did not move into
the house until mid- 1916.  The one-year delay in occupancy was
due to the time required for improvements to make the quarters
habitable.


                       COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF,
                 UNITED STATES SOUTHERN COMMAND

Today, Quarters #1 is basically the same structure it was in
1916.  Improvements, such as the installation of central air
conditioning and routine maintenance, have been made throughout
the decades since its construction.  In October, 1947, the
concrete birdbath and fish pool were added as part of the
landscape improvements.

During the eighty years since its erection on Quarry Heights,
Quarters #1 has had 37 official residents, from the Commander
(one-star), U.S. Troops in Panama, to the Commander-in-Chief
(four-star), U.S. Southern Command.  The current residents are
General and Mrs. Barry McCaffrey.


                  QUARRY HEIGHTS RECONSTRUCTED
                           (1906-1913)

Nine other units of family housing were moved to Quarry Heights
during 1915.  Quarters #2 through #7, which were originally
designated housing for Staff Officers, were re-erected on
December 4, 1915.

Despite several proposals to demolish the Isthmian Canal
Commission wood houses at Quarry Heights - which were considered
oversized, substandard, and inadequate - and replace them with
modem family housing, none of the proposals were accepted or
acted upon.  Perhaps this is because the personnel assigned to
the quarters preferred living in the historically significant
homes, indulging themselves in the simple qualities and harmony
of a different, bygone era.

Although the wood frame buildings have been repainted, reroofed,
and repaired on a regular basis during the years they have stood
at Quarry Heights, they are "to all intents and purposes, the
same buildings that overlooked the raw excavations of the Culebra
Cut and provided that 'castle' for the bone-weary construction
foreman or overseer at the end of a hellish day at the
bottom of the Canal diggings."42


                     INTER-WAR CONSTRUCTION
                           (1914-1938)

Following the conclusion of World War I, new construction at the
Quarry Heights Military Reservation was planned, and a number of
new buildings were constructed, including Building # 153, a
Motion Picture Service Building.

In addition to the construction of these buildings, recreational
facilities were erected.  Tennis was popular on the Isthmus, and
nearly every installation and civilian community had at least one
set of tennis courts.

By 1930, there were 39,469 U.S. citizens residing within the
Panama Canal Zone.  Of those, 10,470 were associated with the
Army.  The population of Quarry Heights at that time was 421,
including 286 white males, 115 white females, 2 black males and
18 black females.

Building #84 was erected at Quarry Heights in June of 1919 as the
Post Library and Motion Picture Hall.  Although the origin of
this structure is unknown, its era of construction and its design
and function indicate that it might have been moved from one of
the Canal Construction Era communities where it had served as
either a theater or a church.

As a result of the growing popularity and use of automobiles in
the Canal Zone, a number of garages were constructed at military
reservations, including Quarry Heights.

In 1994, this building was renovated for use as the U.S. Southern
Command Conference Center.  Following the renovation, the
facility was renamed the Perez Conference Center, in honor of a
young soldier killed in 1989 by hostile fire during Operation
JUST CAUSE.

Medical care in this tropical climate was a always major concern.
In addition to the medical services available at Gorgas Hospital,
most installations had a medical station for emergencies and
minor illnesses.  In June of 1936, a clinic was constructed at
Quarry Heights.


                  WORLD WAR II CONSTRUCTION ERA
                           (1939-1946)

Immediately prior to the United States' involvement in World War
II, defense facilities were constructed at nearly all
installations on the Isthmus.  In June of 1939, Congress
appropriated nearly $50,000,000 in funding for construction of
several new installations, as well as new construction at
established posts in the Panama Canal Zone.

Due to frequent labor shortages, construction activities often
required the use of troop labor.  "While a part of the garrison
was on alert duty, a number of battalions and other units were
assigned to clearing the heavy jungle growth from sites where it
was proposed to locate new posts, and additions to established
posts.  As another contribution to rushing actual construction at
the earliest possible moment, troop labor was employed in putting
in footings and preparing specific sites in the cleared areas so
that contractors would not find it necessary to waste valuable
time visiting Panama to inspect and survey ground conditions
before bidding.  The advantage gained by this preliminary work
was apparent in July 1940 when the first contractors arrived and
almost at once some above-ground construction was observable."43

New installations constructed prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor
included "nine airbases and airdromes, ten ground forces posts,
thirty aircraft warning stations, and 634 searchlights,
antiaircraft gun positions and miscellaneous tactical and
logistical installations.  The Panama Canal Department was the
base of operations in this vast area because the Canal was the
target to be defended.  This meant that construction connected
with the existing [installations] in the Canal Zone had to be
greatly expanded."44

On March 27, 1940, Lieutenant General Daniel van Voorhis,
Commanding General, Panama Canal Department, directed the
construction of a bombproof shelter at Quarry Heights.
Justification for the $400,000 construction project was that
"such a structure was necessary for use in case of emergency and
vital to the security of important data."45

This reinforced concrete facility, commonly referred to as The
Tunnel, was cut into the solid rock face of the old Ancon Quarry.
Completed on January 20, 1942, it is currently used as a secure
center for the U.S. Southern Command.

Building #119, the Quarry Heights Officers' Club and Bachelor
Officers' Quarters, was also built during this period.
Originally constructed as Bachelor Officers' Quarters, the
facility has expanded over the years to become the present
Officers' Club and Guest House.

In 1968 the Parade Field at Quarry Heights was renamed and
dedicated in memory of Colonel John D. Webber, U.S. Army, who had
served at Quarry Heights as USSOUTHCOM Deputy Director of
Logistics from June 1964 until October 1966.  Colonel Webber was
assassinated in Guatemala City on January 16, 1968, while serving
as the commander of the U.S. Military Group in Guatemala.  The
memorial plaque is "mounted on a monument of native stone hewn
from the old quarry."46


                  CONTEMPORARY CONSTRUCTION ERA
                        (1946 - PRESENT)

Morgan Avenue, which was "required for siting additional military
housing,"47 was added to the Quarry Heights Military Reservation
by Canal Zone Order Number 65, dated June 10, 1963.  Morgan
Avenue was officially named on March 31, 1920, in honor of
Alabama Senator John T. Morgan who was, interestingly enough, a
proponent of the Nicaragua Canal.

Additional housing was constructed on Morgan Avenue in the late
1960's and early 1970's.

Montague Hall, Building #88, was completed and officially
dedicated on April 3, 1958.  The facility was named in honor of
Lieutenant General Robert M. Montague who died on February 20,
1958, while serving as Commander in Chief of the Caribbean
Defense Command.

The mural on the wall in the Operations Division (J-3
Directorate, Hq., U.S. Southern Command) of Montague Hall was
painted by Sp5 Moharned Benarnar Bufrahi, an illustrator in that
office, in 1969.

Andrews Hall, Building #83, was completed in August of 1964.  It
was named in honor of Lieutenant General Frank M. Andrews who
served as Commanding General of the Caribbean Defense Command
from September 9, 1941, to November 8, 1942.

Originally designated as one-family Company Officer's Housing,
Quarters # 1 9 was converted to administrative use in 1965.

The building was demolished in December of 1976, and was replaced
by a concrete and metal General Purpose/Administrative Building.


               The United States Southern Command

During the final years of Canal construction, officials debated
the question of whether or not the Panama Canal would Guns
Guarding the Pacific be fortified.  Colonel George Goethals,
Chief Engineer during the construction of the Canal, and other
military experts argued that the Canal was "primarily a military
work - that the Canal Zone exists only because of and for the
Canal,"48 and, therefore, it should be "so governed as to protect
the dams and locks from any treacherous assualt."49  Those
opposed to fortifying the Canal could not raise convincing
arguments against fortification, so a plan to guard and defend
the Canal was implemented.

The concept for Canal defense, as explained by the Secretary of
War in November, 1912, was "a seacoast armament with submarine
mines at the termini of the Canal, for protection against a sea
attack and to secure a safe exit for our fleet in the face of a
hostile fleet, [and of] field works and mobile force[s] of troops
to protect the locks and assure important utilities against an
attack by land."50

Besides its significance in terms of world commerce and traffic,
"it remains a fact that the Panama Canal was designed and built
as an agency to the defense of United States... When completed,
the Canal was vital to National Defense."51

Initially, all Army and Army Air Corps troops fell under the
jurisdiction of the United States Troops, Panama Canal Zone
(under the command of the Eastern Department), with headquarters
at the Quarry Heights Military Reservation.  The first commanding
general of the United States Troops was Brigadier General
Clarence R. Edwards, who assumed the position on January 6, 1915.
General Edwards and the Chief of Staff of the Eastern Department,
Major General Leonard Wood, both agreed that control of the
Panama Canal Zone (including, but not limited to, military
installations) should fall under the jurisdiction of the
Commanding General, "in both peace and war."" It was General
Edwards' opinion that "it is impossible to avoid the conclusion
that every feature and function of the Canal combine to form a
single problem, and that a single mind must be held responsible
finally for its solution... The problem is admittedly wholly
military in war; but the truth is that it is essentially military
at all times."53

In the final arrangement, Army control was limited to wartime,
and required authorization by the President of the United States
or the Secretary of War.  During peacetime, the Governor of the
Panama Canal Zone, an Army Corps of Engineers senior officer, had
jurisdiction over Canal Zone activities.

In April 1917, after the United States' entry into World War I,
Brigadier General Edwards received charge of the Panama Canal and
Canal Zone, in addition to his command of the United States
Troops on the Isthmus.  Three months later, the Army separated
the Canal Zone from the Eastern Department and placed it under
the newly designated Panama Canal Department.  This action led
local military authorities to request that "areas under their
control be specifically set aside as military reservations in
which the military commander could exercise authority comparable
with that of post commanders of continental military
reservations."54  A series of Executive Orders satisfied their
requests by setting aside military reservations, including
Quarry Heights, on both sides of the Isthmus.

The climate, with both dry and wet seasons, determined the
training of Infantry Troops during the early years.  In the dry
season, when the temperature is cooler and the air is breezier,
"the camping life [was] much enjoyed."55  During this time of
year, from mid-December to mid-April, troops were often "out on
maneuvers and [trying] out their plans for the protection of the
Canal against an imaginary or represented enemy.  All drills and
instruction [had] the sole objective of protecting the Canal."56

A major from the 42nd Infantry described these dry season field
maneuvers as follows: "The first jungle trip, especially, has
considerable romantic interest, and the tyro [the new recruit] is
inclined to carry with him an arsenal of weapons with which to
meet the dangers which he has been led by geographers to expect.
Some tyros also carry veritable medicine chests, to counteract
the deadly diseases with which a tropical jungle must abound."57

During the rainy season, when troop field activities became more
limited, training decreased, and commanders placed an emphasis on
activities which taught "the individual soldier how to use his
weapon, i.e., his rifle, bayonet, pistol, automatic rifle,
machine gun, trench mortar, one-pounder, etc.  In other words,
that period was used to teach technique and plans."58

The Army initiated jungle warfare training in the mid-1920s,
focusing it on "the reconnaissance of trails and training in
trail fighting."59 Jungle warfare training continues through the
U.S. Army Jungle Operations Training Battalion at Fort Sherman.
The school "provides cyclical unit-level instruction in the
techniques of jungle survival and operations for battalions from
the Continental United States."60

United States military officials reevaluated Canal defense in the
early 1930s and determined that "(1) seacoast armament was
becoming obsolescent, (2) improvement of the surfaces of existing
landing fields was needed to permit operation in all weather, (3)
at least one extensive landing field on firm ground should be
built, [and] (4) existing radio installations, telegraph and
telephone lines were not adequate for peacetime needs."61

In order to meet "the extremely complex theater organization and
command problems,"62 the War Department established the Caribbean
Defense Command on February 10, 1941.  The Command's mission was
to improve coordination between Army and Navy forces protecting
Caribbean sea lanes and the Panama Canal, and to promote joint
services training.  The Commanding General, Panama Canal
Department, had dual responsibility as the commander of the
Caribbean Defense Command, with an authorized grade of lieutenant
general.

One month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Panama
Canal Department was placed "virtually on a wartime status with a
directive to 'put in effect at once, but unostentatiously, every
protective measure against naval, air, or sabotage action which,
by surprise, could prevent operation of the canal.'"63

Although the Panama Canal was never an active theater of combat,
the area "remained throughout [the war years] an area of constant
concern."64

During World War II, the Panama Canal served as a transit
corridor for "millions of tons of war material and thousands of
servicemen. 1161 Following Germany's surrender, troops training
in Panama returned to the United States for reassignment to
combat units in the Pacific arena.  The War Department designated
May 12, 1945, as Redeployment Day, when all available personnel
and resources were redirected toward ending the war with Japan.

To the Panama Canal Department, this meant "full use of the
interoceanic waterway for the transitting of transports and
supply ships, and the quick redeploying of available men and
material for a full victory."66  Hundreds of thousands of troops
from the European Theater of Operations passed through the Panama
Canal on their way to the Pacific Theater.  "Transports were
hurriedly dispatched from European ports and upon arrival here
[in Panama] required resupplying, and the troops were in dire
need of recreation.  Through 'Operation Transit', the Panama
Canal Department provided this exceptional service with
efficiency, understanding and dispatch."67

After Japan's surrender in September of 1945, the number of
personnel assigned to the Panama Canal area was again decreased,
and "antiaircraft gun sites and landing fields throughout Panama
and other Latin American countries were abandoned.  Minefields at
the Canal entrances were cleared, barrage balloon and chemical
smoke defenses removed, and the large coast defense guns
dismantled and scrapped."68  Plans for the postwar defense of the
Panama Canal included the "new and more powerful weapons that had
been developed during the war years, and the need for national
and international cooperation for hemisphere defense."69

In 1947, the new Department of Defense established regional joint
commands.  One, the U.S. Caribbean Command, incorporated the
Caribbean Defense Command as its headquarters.  Established as a
three-star command on November 1, 1947, CARIBCOM had operational
control of Army, Navy, and Air Forces responsible for the
Caribbean and the Panama Canal.

The Army reorganized its Canal Zone command, inactivating the
Panama Canal Department and activating the United States Army
Caribbean (USARCARIB).  Activated on November 15, 1947,
USARCARIB had its headquarters at Fort Amador.

In order to support the "growing concept of hemispheric
solidarity,"70 the primary missions of USARCARIB were expanded to
provide not only for the defense of the Panama Canal, but for the
implementation of policies and international agreements
pertaining to military assistance groups in Latin America.
Training was also expanded to include "the operation of a school
to train selected Latin American Army officers and enlisted men
and support of the U.S. Army Inter American Geodetic Survey."71

On June 6, 1963, the Secretary of Defense redesignated the
Caribbean Command as the United States Southern Command
(USSOUTHCOM).  This reflected a shift in Southern Theater
priorities away from the Caribbean, and toward the Central and
South American land mass.  Correspondingly, the Army redesignated
the U.S. Army Caribbean as the United States Army Forces Southern
Command (USAFSO).


                       Commanding Officers

COMMANDERS,
U.S. TROOPS IN PANAMA

Brigadier General Clarence R. Edwards
11/1914             04/1917

Brigadier General E.H. Plummer
04/1917             08/1917

Brigadier General A. Cronkhite
08/1917             08/1917

Colonel G.F. Landers
08/1917             02/1918


COMMANDERS,
PANAMA CANAL DEPARTMENT

Major General R.M. Blatchford
2/1918              04/1919

Major General Charles W. Kennedy
04/1919             05/1921

Brigadier General B.B. Babbitt
05/1921             10/1921

Major General S.D. Sturgis
10/1921             09/1924

Major General William Lassiter
09/1924             01/1925

Major General Charles H. Martin
01/1925             10/1927

"As the Army built the canal and made the Canal Zone a healthful
place of abode... it now stands guard over this treasure.  The
mission of the [United States' military troops] in
Panama is to provide the insurance for the safety of the Canal
both in peace and in the event of war."72


COMMANDERS,
PANAMA CANAL DEPARTMENT
(continued)

Major General William S. Graves
10/1927             03/1928

Major General Malin Craig
04/1928             08/01930

Major General LeR. Erwin
08/1930             11/1930

Major General Preston Brown
11/1930             11/1933

Major General Harold B. Fiske
11/1933             11/1935

Major General Lytle Brown
11/1935             07/1936

Major General Henry W. Butner
07/1936             02/1937

Brigadier General F.W. Rowell
02/1937             04/1937

Major General David L. Stone
04/1937             01/1940

Major General Daniel Van Voorhis
01/1940             09/1941


COMMANDING GENERALS,
CARIBBEAN DEFENSE COMMAND

Lieutenant General Daniel Van Voorhis
02/1941             09/1941

Lieutenant General Frank M. Andrews
09/1941             11/1942

Lieutenant General George H. Brett
11/1942             10/1945

Lieutenant General Willis D. Crittenberger
10/1945             11/1947


COMMANDERS IN CHIEF,
U.S. CARIBBEAN COMMAND

Lieutenant General Willis D. Crittenberger
11/1947             06/1948

Lieutenant General Mathew B. Ridgway
06/1948             10/1940

Lieutenant General Wm.  H. Morris
10/1949             04/1952

Lieutenant General Horace L. McBride
04/1952             06/1954

Lieutenant General Wiilliam K. Harrison
06/1954             01/1957

Lieutenant General Robert M. Montague
01/1957             02/1958

Lieutenant General Ridgley Gaither
04/1958             07/1960

Lieutenant General Robert F. Sink
07/1960             01/1961

Lieutenant General Andrew P. O'Meara
01/1961             06/1963


COMMANDERS IN CHIEF,
U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND

General Andrew P. O'Meara
06/1963             02/1965

General Robert W. Porter
02/1965             02/1969


COMMANDERS IN CHIEF,
U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND
(continued)

General George R. Mather
02/1969             09/1971

General George V. Underwood
09/1971             01/1973

"An oval of 3 1/4 inches by 2 3/4 inches in scarlet with long
axis vertical bearing a portcullis in yellow.  The Isthmus was
the gateway through which the wealth of Peru passed to Spain, and
the Canal is now the gateway through which passes the commerce of
the Atlantic and Pacific.  The portcullis symbolized the gate,
and the red and gold are the old Spanish colors.  "73


COMMANDERS IN CHIEF,
U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND
(continued)

General William B. Rosson
01/1973             07/1975

General Dennis P. M'Cauliffe
08/1975             09/1979

General Wallace H. Nutting
10/1979             05/1983

General Paul F. Gorman
05/1983             03/1985

General John R. Galvin
03/1985             07/1989

General Fred F. Woerner
06/1987             07/1989

General Maxwell R. Thurman
09/1989             11/1990

General George A. Joulwan
11/1990             11/1993

General Barry McCaffrey
02/1994             Present


                          Photo Credits


Photograph Legend
Photographs supplied by:
[DEH] - Directorate of Engineering & Housing
[DEH/V] - DEH/Venable Photographic Collection
[G+K] - Graves + Klein, Architects, Engineers
[PCC] - Panama Canal Collection, U.S. National Archives
[Abbot] - Abbot, Willis J. Panama and the Canal in Picture and
     Prose.  New York: Syndicate Publishing Company, 1913.
[Haskin] - Haskin, Frederic J. The Panama Canal.  Garden City,
     New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1913.
[Heald] - Heald, Jean Sadler.  Picturesque Panama.
     Chicago: Curt Teich & Company, 1928.
[Keller] - Keller, Ulrich.  The Building of the Panama
     Canal in Historic Photographs.  New York: Dover
     Publications, Inc., 1983.
[WSJ] - William S. Johnson


Quarry Heights with Quarters #1 in Foreground, 1915 [DEH]

Map of The Republic of Panama [G+K]

MP Company, Quarry Heights [DEH/V]

Quarry Heights Aerial [PCC]

Guard House, 1995 [G+K]

View of the Bay of Panama from Quarry Heights, 1995 [G+K]

Reclaiming Land at the Pacific Entrance [PCC]

Crossing the Isthmus in the Olden Time [PCC]

General View of Ancon Quarry, June 30, 1910 [PCC]

Quarry Heights Housing, 1995 [G+K]

Side View of a Family Housing Unit, 1995 [G+K]

Map of the Pacific Entrance to the Panama Canal [G+K]

The Ancon (French) Hospital Grounds [Abbot]

The Ancon (French) Hospital Grounds [Abbot]

Gorgas Hospital [DEH]

'La Folie Dingler' [Abbot]

Ancon Cemetery [Abbot]

Ancon Hill [Abbot]

Panama Bay from Ancon Hill with the Ancon Reservoir in Forefront
[Abbot]

The Tivoli Hotel, 1912 [Haskin]

Entrance to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ancon
[WSJ]

Temporary ICC Administrative Headquarters Building [Abbot]

Former U.S. District Court Building, 1995 [WSJ]

U.S. District Court Building, circa 1923 [Core]

The Panama Canal Administration Building - "Goethals'Monument" in
Foreground [DEH]

Colonel Goethals' House at Culebra [Abbot]

Official Residence, Panama Canal Commission Administrator, 1995
[WSJ]

The Sliced-off Hill at Ancon [Abbot]

The Ancon Quarry Stone Crusher [PCC]

The Remnants of the Stone Crusher are now Overtaken by Junge
Growth [WSJ]

Map of the Panama Canal Zone (Inset of the Republic of Panama)
[G+K]

U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps [Laval]

The Panama Railroad [PCC]

U.S. Marines Compete, July 4, 1912 [Keller]

Camp Elliott Marine Post [Abbot]

Colonel Goethals Reviewing the Marines at Camp Elliott [Abbot]

Map of Quarry Heights, circa 1932 [G+K]

Quarry Heights from Hydrographer's Tower, circa 1915 [DEH]

Gasoline Station & Fire Station, 1923 [DEH]

Troops at Quarry Heights [DEHN]

Day Pigeon Loft (100 pigeons), 1917 [DEH]

Quarry Heights, circa 1923 [Core]

Captain Hite, General's Aide, Quarters #9, Quarry Heights [DEHN]

MPs at Leisure, 1923 [DEHN]

Headquarters Detachment Barracks (I 00-man), June 30, 1919 [DEH]

Military Police Barracks, 1921 [DEHN]

Military Police Company Barracks (95-man), November 1, 1921
[DEH/V]

(No Caption) - Main Entrance to Quarry Heights, circa 1952 [DEH]

Four-family N.C.O. Quarters [DEH]

Empire Dispursing Office and Quarters [Abbot]

Culebra Residence of Colonel and Mrs. David D. Gaillard [PCC]

Tea-Time at Col. and Mrs. D.D. Gaillard's Residence [Keller]

Disassembled Buildings Loaded on Flatcars [PCC]

The Former Community of Culebra [DEH]

Two-family ICC Type-4 Housing [Keller]

Four-family ICC Type Housing [Bishop]

One-family ICC Type Housing [Bishop]

Typical Bedroom of ICC Family Housing [PCC]

Canal Official's Residence at Ancon [Bishop]

Map of Quarry Heights, circa 1990 [G+K]

Building #8, Termite Guard [G+K]

(No Caption) Salute Guns [G+K]

Residence of the Commanding Officer, Quarters # 1, June 1916
[PCC]

Residence of the Commander-in-Chief, Quarters #1, 1995 [G+K]

Concrete Birdbath and Fish Pool [DEH]

Concrete Bench Next to the Fish Pool [DEH]

Quarters #2, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters #3, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters #5, 1995 [G+K]

Quarters #4, 1995 [G+K]

Quarters #7, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters #4, #5, and #6, 1995 [G+K]

Quarters #2 1, circa 193 5 [DEH]

Quarters #9, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters #9, 1995 [G+K]

Quarters #8, #10, and #12, 1995 - Graves Drive, 1995 [G+K]

Quarters #10, 1995 [G+K]

Quarters #10, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters #I 1, circa 193 5 [DEH]

Quarters #12, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters #12, 1995 [G+K]

Quarters #13, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters #14, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters # 1 5, 1995 [G+K]

Quarters #15, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters #16, #17, and #18, 1995 [G+K]

Quarters #16, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters #17, circa 1935 [DEH]

Quarters #18, 1995 [G+K]

Early Quarry Heights Quarters - Photos of Modem Interiors [DEH]

Quarters #22, circa 1935 [DEH]

Typical Wood Houses at Quarry Heights, 1995 [DEH]

Quarters #23, 1995 [G+K]

Quarters #23, circa 1935 [DEH]

Building #153, 1995 [G+K]

Building #153, Motion Picture Service Building [DEH]

Building #84, Post Library and Motion Picture Hall, circa 1935
[DEH]

Building #84, Floor Plan and Elevation [DEH]

N.C.O. Garage, circa 1935 [DEH]

Building #84, the Perez Conference Center, 1995 [G+K]

Medical Station, circa 1935 [DEH]

(No Caption) - Sectional View of the Tunnel [DEH]

Building #119, Officers' Club and BOQ, 1995 [G+K]

Bohio at Quarry Heights Officers' Club, circa 1975 [DEH]

Quarters #311, 1995 [G+K]

Housing on Morgan Avenue, 1995 [G+K]

Two-Family Housing - Morgan Avenue, 1995 [G+K]

Two-Family Housing - Morgan Avenue, 1995 [G+K]

Two-Family Housing - Morgan Avenue, 1995 [G+K]

Building #88 - Montague Hall, 1995 [G+K]

Building #83 - Andrews Hall, circa 1974 [DEH]

Quarters #19, circa 1935 [DEH]

Building  #19, 1995 [G+K]

Guns Guarding the Pacific [Abbot]

1st Lt. W.B. Palmer (Post HQ Adjutant) and Staff Sgt. (Sgt.
Major) Henry Kinzler, 1923 [DEHN]

Col.  Goethals Presenting Medals, 1913 [Abbot]

MP Mess Christmas 1924 [DEH/V]

Captain Hite by Officers' BOQ, 1923 [DEH/V]

MP First Sgt. and Operations Sgt., 1924 [DEH/V]

Battleship HMS Hood, 1923 [DEH/V]

Battleship HMS Hood, 1923 [DEH/V]

Major General Charles.  H. Martin [Heald]

Major General William S. Graves [Heald]

Shoulder Patch Insignia of the Panama Canal Division [Infantry
Journal - 1; p. 373]

Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Southern Command, General Barry
McCaffrey [USSOUTHCOM,PAO]

Command Sargeant Major Franklin Delano Thomas (USSOUTHCOM, CSM)
and his wife, Patricia Cooper-Thomas [DEH]

The Ancon Quarry Stone Crusher [Abbot]


                        Acknowledgements

Many individuals and agencies provided assistance in producing
this brochure, including Lieutenant Colonel Patrick L. Staffieri,
Director of Engineering and Housing - Panama; Dolores De Mena,
Historian, United States Army South; Dr. John Pitts, Historian,
United States Southern Command; Maria Y. de Vasquez, Chief,
Architect-Engineer Design Section, Engineering Division, DEH;
Carlos D. Baquero, Mechanical Engineer, Engineering Division,
DEH; the 106th Signal Brigade Printing Plant; and the Panama
Canal Commission Technical Resources Center.

Special thanks are extended to Command Sergeant Major Franklin
Delano Thomas (USSOUTHCOM, CSM) and his wife, Patricia Cooper-
Thomas, for opening their home, Quarters #21, Quarry Heights.


                            Endnotes



1.  LaFeber, Walter.  The Panama Canal:  The Crisis in Historical
Perspective. New York:  Oxford University Press, 1978, p. 5.

2.  McCullough, David.  The Path Between the Seas.  New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1977, p. 134.

3.  Ibid.

4.  Ibid, p. 144-145.

5.  Len-Rios, Janet.  "History of C.Z. Hospitals: A Chronology of
Change." The Panama Canal Review.  October 1, 1979, p. 23.

6.  McCullough, p. 160.

7.  Laval, Jerome D. Images of an Age: Panama and the Building of
the Canal.  Fresno, California: Graphic Technology Co., 1978, p.
49.

8.  Annual Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission for the Fiscal
Year Ended June 30, 1905.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing
Office, p. 53.

9.  "Court Comes to Order in the Ballroom." The Panama Canal
Review, October 1, 1979, p. 24.

10.  Canal Record, July 3, 1912.  Balboa Heights, Canal Zone: The
Panama Canal, p. 359.

11.  "History of the Military Post of Quarry Heights." Balboa,
Canal Zone: Isthmian Historical Society, no date, p. 1.

12.  Pierce, Philip N., and Frank 0. Hough.  The Compact History
of the United States Marine Corps.  New York: Hawthorn Books,
Inc., 1964, P. 101.

13.  Hedrick, Basil C. and Anne K. Historical Dictionary of
Panama.  Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1970, p. 63.

14.  USARSO Pam 870- 1. "The Fortifications of the Panama Canal,
Part 1: The Defenses of the Panama Canal." United States Army
South, Republic of Panama, May 1, 1973, p. 15.

15.  Laval, p. 80.

16.  Ibid.

17.  Metcalf, Clyde H. A History of the United States Marine
Corps.  New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1939, p. 295.

18.  Senate Document Number 146: Message from the President of
the United States Transmitting a Report by the Comission of Fine
Arts in Relation to the Panama Canal.  Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office, 1913, p. 14.

19.  Metcalf, p. 297.

20.  "History of the Military Post of Quarry Heights," p. 3.

21.  Ibid p. 2.

22.  Ibid.

23.  Ibid.

24.  Ibid.

25.  "Military Reservations: Canal Zone." U.S. War Department,
1942, p. 31.

26.  "History of the Military Post of Quarry Heights," p. 4.

27.  "Quarry Heights." November 1973.  Unpublished research, p.
9.

28.  Annual Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission for the
Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1904.  Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office, p. 5.

29.  Ibid, p. 81.

30.  "A Link With the Past." The Panama Canal Review.  October 1,
1979, p. 14.

31.  Annual Report of the Governor of the Panama Canal for the
Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1915.  Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office, p. 32.

32.  Ibid.

33.  "Quarry Heights," p. 5.

34.  Annual Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission for the
Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1906, Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office, P. 100.

35.  Ibid, p. 101.

36.  Ibid, p. 96.

37.  Annual Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission for the
Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1908.  Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office, p. 96.

38.  Ibid, p. 96.

39.  Bishop, Joseph Bucklin.  The Panama Gatemmy.  New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1915, p. 390.

40.  Ibid.

41.  Annual Reports of the Governor of The Panama Canal for the
Fiscal Year 1933.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,
p. 60-61.

42.  "History of the Military Post of Quarry Heights," p. 4.

43.  History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 2:
Preparations for War 1939-1941).  U.S. War Department, Panama
Canal Department.  Circa May 10, 1949, p. 51.

44.  History of the Panama Canal Departmen! (Volume 3: The War
Years 1941-1945).  U.S. War Department, Panama Canal Department.
Circa May 10, 1949, p. 192.

45.  De Mena, Dolores, compiler.  "Historical Information
Concerning Quarry Heights Army Reservation Command Post (Bldg.
81, Quarry Heights, C.Z.)." Office of the USARSO Historian, Fort
Clayton, Republic of Panama.  Circa 1975.

46.  "Monument Will Be Dedicated Honoring Colonel John Webber."
Southern Command News.  June 21, 1968.

47.  Regn, Elmer M. "Quarry Heights, Canal Zone: Master Plan
Analysis of Existing Facilities Report." March 1972, p. 1.

48.  Abbot, Willis J. Panama and The Canal In Picture and Prose.
New York: Syndicate Publishing Company, 1913, p. 360.

49.  Ibid.

50 Ibid, p. 370.

51 Histoj@@ of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 1:
Introduction and Historical Background 1903-1939.  U.S. War
Department, Panama Canal Department.  Circa May 10, 1949, p. 31-
32.

52.  Ibid, p. 39.

53.  Ibid.

54.  Land Holdings of the Armed Forces in the Canal Zone.
Published by the Panama Area Joint Committee, Headquarters
Caribbean Command, Quarry Heights, Canal Zone.  1 July 1956, p.
2.

55.  Infantry Journal, Volume XXVI, Number 4 (Panama Number).
April 1925, p. 384.

56.  Ibid.

57.  Ibid, p. 376.

58.  Ibid, p. 384.

59.  Ibid, p. 385.

60.  Annual Historical Supplement FY82. 193rd Infantry Brigade
(Panama), 1982, p. 1-3.

61.  History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 1), p. 67.

62.  Southern Command News, July 2,1970, p. 16.

63.  Ibid, p. 16.

64.  History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 1), p. i.

65.  English, Peter, ed.  Panama and the Canal Zone in Pictures.
New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1975.

66.  History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 4: The
Reconversion Period 1945-1947).  U.S. War Department, Panama
Canal Department.  Circa May 10, 1949, p. 5.

67.  History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 4), p. 89-90.

68.  Regn, Elmer M. "Quarry Heights, Canal Zone: Master Plan
Analysis of Existing Facilities Report." March 1972, p. 16-17.

69.  History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 4), p. iv.

70.  History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 1), p. 2.

71.  Southern Command News, July 2, 1970, p. 16.

72.  Infantry Journal, p. 445.

73.  Ibid, p. 373.


                          Bibliography

Abbot, Willis J. Panama and The Canal In Picture and Prose.  New
York: Syndicate Publishing Company, 1913.

"Analytical Report: Future Development Plans for Master Planning
- Quarry Heights, Canal Zone." Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army
District, Mobile, Alabama.  June 1974.

Annual Historical Supplement FY82. 193rd Infantry Brigade
(Panama), 1982.

Annual Reports of the Isthmian Canal Commission (1905-LE14).
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Annual Reports of the Governor of The Panama Canal (1915- 1935).
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

"Atlantic Side Streets Named First, in 1907." The Panama Canal
Spillway.  Volume IV, Number 15, October 1, 1965, p. 3.

Background Documents Relating to the Panama Canal.  Prepared by
the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress; for the
Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate (95th
Congress, 1st Session).  Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1977.

Bishop, Joseph Bucklin.  The Panama Gateway.  New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1915.

Canal Record (Volumes I through VI).  Ancon, Canal Zone: Isthmian
Canal Commission Printing Office, 1908-1913.

Canal Record (Volumes VII through XIII).  Balboa Heights, Canal
Zone: The Panama Canal, 1914-1921.

"Court Comes to Order in the Ballroom." The Panama Canal Review,
October 1, 1979.

Davies, Howell, ed.  The South American Handbook.  London,
England: Trade and Travel Publications, Ltd., 1966.

De Mena, Dolores, compiler.  "Historical Information Concerning
Quarry Heights Army Reservation Command Post (Bldg. 81, Quarry
Heights, C.Z.)." Office of the USARSO Historian, Fort Clayton,
Republic of Panama, circa 1975.

De Mena, Dolores, compiler.  "Raid Prompts Japanese Retaliation."
The Tropic Times.  May 8, 1992.

Edwards, Albert.  Panama: The Canal, the Country, and the People.
New York: The MacMillan Company, 1912.

English, Peter, ed.  Panama and the Canal Zone in Pictures.  New
York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1975.

Executive Orders Relating to the Panama Canal (March 8, 1904, to
December 31, 1921).  Mount Hope, Canal Zone: The Panama Canal
Press, 1921.

"Feasibility Study for Family Housing, Quarry Heights, Canal
Zone." Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Engineer District,
Jacksonville.  Jacksonville, Florida.  July 1966.

Heald, Jean Sadler.  Picturesque Panama. Chicago:  Curt Teich &
Company, 1928.

Hedrick, Basil C. and Anne K. Historical Dictionary of Panama.
Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1970.

History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 1: Introduction
and Historical Background 1903-1939).  U.S. War Department,
Panama Canal Department.  Circa May 10, 1949.

History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 2: Preparations
for War 193 9-1941).  U.S. War Department, Panama Canal
Department.  Circa May 10, 1949.

History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 3: The War Period
1941-1945).  U.S. War Department, Panama Canal Department.  Circa
May 10, 1949.

History of the Panama Canal Department (Volume 4: The
Reconversion Period 1945-1947).  U.S. War Department, Panama
Canal Department.  Circa May 10, 1949.

"Impact of the Panama Canal Treaty on the United States Military
in the Panama Canal Area." 193rd Infantry Brigade, Public Affairs
Office, Public Information Paper.  No date.

Infantry Journal, Volume XXVI, Number 4 (Panama Number).  April
1925.

Keller, Ulrich.  The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic
Photographs.  New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1983.

Land Holdings of the Armed Forces in the Canal Zone.  Published
by the Panama Area Joint Committee, Headquarters Caribbean
Command, Quarry Heights, Canal Zone.  July 1, 1956.

Len-Rios, Janet.  "History of C.Z. Hospitals: A Chronology of
Change." The Panama Canal Review.  October 1, 1979.

Letter of the Secretary of War, Transmitting the First Annual
Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission.  Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office, 1904.

"A Link With the Past." The Panama Canal Review.  October 1,
1979, p. 14.

"Many Hope Graves Get Moved." Southern Command News.  August 17,
1979, p. 3.

McCullough, David.  The Path Between the Seas.  New York: Simon
and Schuster, 1977.

Metcalf, Clyde H. A History of the United States Marine Corps
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1939.

"Monument Will Be Dedicated Honoring Col. John Webber." Southern
Command News.  June 21, 1968.

"Nostalgia Rides the Rails as an Era Draws to a Close." The
Panama Canal Review.  October 1, 1979.

Organization and Functions:  Panama Canal Company, Canal Zone
Government.  No publisher information, May 1956.

The Panama Canal Twenty-fifth Anniversary.  Mount Hope, Panama
Canal Zone: The Panama Canal Press, 1939.

Pierce, Philip N., and Frank 0. Hough.  The Compact History of
the United States Marine Corps.   New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc.,
1964.

"Quarry Heights." November 1973.  Unpublished research.

Regn, Elmer M. "Quarry Heights, Canal Zone: Master Plan Analysis
of Existing Facilities Report." March 1972.

Senate Document Number 146: Message from the President of the
United States Transmitting a Report by the Commission of Fine
Arts in Relation to the Artistic Structure of The Panama Canal.
Washington, D.C.: Govermnent Printing Office, 1913.

Simon, Maron J. The Panama Affair.  New York:  Charles Scriber's
Sons, 1971.

Southern Command News, September 12,1969, p. 2.

Speller, Jon P. The Panama Canal: Heart of America's Security.
New York: Robert Speller & Sons, Publishers, Inc., 1972.

Sullivan, Charles J., compiler.  Army Posts & Towns: The Baedeker
of the Army.  Plattsburgh Barracks, N.Y.: Burlington Free Press
Printing Company, 1926.

U.S. Adjutant-General's Office.  Acquisition of Land in the
Panama Canal Zone: History of World War II.  No publishing
information.  Circa . 1946-1950.

Wheaton, Philip E. 'The Panamanian People and Their Search for
Sovereignty." Panama: Sovereign1y for a Land Divided.
Washington, D.C.:  Epica Task Force, 1976.

Zinn, Colonel George A. and John McClure. Index to the Reports of
The Chief of Engineers U.S. Army (Including the Reports of the
Isthmian Canal Commission, 1899-1914).  House of Representatives
Document No. 740; 63rd Congress, 2nd Session.  Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office, 1916.


Quarry operations literally reshaped the face of Ancon Hill.  It
produced over 3,200,000 cubic yards of rock for Canal
construction projects prior to closing on October 31, 1914.  On
March 31, 1920, when The Panama Canal issued names for streets
and roads in the Ancon and Balboa areas, the road "branching to
the south of the old Ancon Quarry to the entrance to the Quarry
Heights military reservation" was officially named Quarry Road.
[Canal Record; 14 April 1029,p.510]
 
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Site developed, owned and maintained by

William H. Ormsbee, Jr.  2005

 

SENIOR MILITARY COMMANDS AT QUARRY HEIGHTS

1915  U.S. Troops, Panama Canal Zone established, temporarily headquartered at Ancon

 

Panama Canal Department

1917  Panama Canal Department established as an Army geographical command; temporarily headquartered at Ancon

1920  Panama Canal Department moved from Ancon to Quarry Heights in April 1920

 

Caribbean Defense Command

U.S. Caribbean Command

1941-1947  Caribbean Defense Command 

1947-1963  U.S. Caribbean Command

 

U.S. Southern Command

1963-1997  U.S. Southern Command (Command's headquarters moved to Miami, Florida in September 1997)

____________

SENIOR MILITARY COMMANDERS AT QUARRY HEIGHTS 1915-1997

____________

ANCON HILL OTHER OCCUPANTS

-Rock Quarry

-Ancon Hospital (French) 

-Ancon Cemetery 

-Gorgas Hospital 

- Former U.S. District Court

-Tivoli Hotel 

-Herricks Heights housing area

-Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 

-Middle America Research Unit 

- Cable Heights