WHO

COMMENTARY

By WHO /By Others

OTHER TOPICS

BASES-LIST/MAP

SENIOR MILITARY COMMANDS AND COMMANDERS AT QUARRY HEIGHTS

ANCON HILL HISTORY - OCCUPANTS

QUARRY HEIGHTS -- HISTORY

(1916-1997)

(134.4 acres/Pacific side)

Quarry Heights Military Reservation was the site of the senior headquarters and nerve center for all U.S. military forces in Panama from 1915 through 1997 and for all deployed U.S. military forces in Central and South America since 1947 (as well as the Caribbean area since June 1997). The small military post was located on two man-made terraces on a carved-out slope of Ancon Hill near the two town sites of Ancon and Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone (later known as the Panama Canal Area) and Panama City overlooking the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.

The site, originally the Ancon Rock Quarry during Canal construction, was transferred to the U.S. Army in 1914 after five years of rock quarrying activities (for constructing the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks of the Panama Canal). The two man-made terraces were created by quarrying on the slope of the 636-foot high Ancon Hill (whose name means "anchorage"). Ancon Hill has been a key geographical reference point in Panama for nearly 400 years.

The area was first used as a temporary camp designated Provost Guard Camp until early 1916 first by U.S. Marines, then by U.S. Army troops as a military police post and senior officer housing until 1020. During construction of the small post 1914-1916, Brigadier General Clarence R. Edwards, then commander of U.S. Troops, Panama Canal Zone, selected the post (and it name) in 1915 to become the site of the senior military command in Panama. Besides being geographically close to the headquarters building of the Panama Canal at Balboa Heights, Quarry Heights provided unexcelled visibility over the immediate surrounding areas as well as south over the sea approaches to the Canal.

Beginning of Quarry Heights, about 1915, with Quarters 1 in right foreground. [Photo from A History of Quarry Heights Military Reservation, prepared for U.S. Army South]

With the first consolidation of all Army troops in Panama into Headquarters, U.S. Troops, Panama Canal Zone (a unified territorial organization) in 1915 under General Edwards, the role of the military troops changed from what was primarily a duty of maintenance of law and order within the Canal construction forces to that of defense and protection of the Panama Canal against threat of attack from other nations of the world.

Isthmian Canal Commission Building at Ancon - Temporary site of senior military headquarters until it moved to nearby Quarry Heights in 1920. [History of Quarry Heights pamphlet--U.S. Army]

By 1916, the population of Quarry Heights totaled 225, including 16 officers and 190 enlisted men. It increased to 421 in 1930.

During the six-year period ending in 1920, the Army upgraded Quarry Heights to make it suitable for use as the headquarters of the ranking U.S. military commander in Panama. During that time, General Edwards and his staff operated from an Isthmian Canal Commission building (later known as the U.S. District Court House) in adjacent Ancon town site. In April 1920, the command headquarters (Panama Canal Department) was moved from Ancon to Quarry Heights.

Even though from its beginning, Quarry Heights military reservation was considered too small for site of the supreme military headquarters and thus long considered to be temporary, it was destined to remain the headquarters for the ranking military command (as well as in Latin America) in Panama for more than three-quarters of a century.

NEXT PAGE>>

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

FOR COMPLETE TEXT OF History of Quarry Heights pamphlet -- U.S. Army GO TO