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. There are several additional historic structures, to include senior military officer housing and The King's Bakery, the latter being the only extant structure in St. Augustine constructed entirely within the twenty-year period of the British occupation. Today the St. Francis Barracks is a U.S. military installation that is also known as the Florida State Arsenal and serves as the headquarters for the Florida National Guard and its two subordinate organizations, the Florida Army National Guard and the Florida Air National Guard. A portion of the military reservation is also the site of the St. Augustine National Cemetery. History Spanish (1st and 2nd) and British periods When Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine for the Spanish Crown, Jesuit priests were among the initial colonists to provide for the spiritual needs of the settlers and to help convert the native Timucua Indians to Christianity. In the 1570s the Jesuits were replaced by friars of the Order of St. Francis who were allocated land in 1588 at the southern end of the city for their monastery and church, Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion (Our Lady of the Conception). The original structures on the site were built of logs and palm thatch roofs. Throughout the years a succession of buildings were constructed as replacements. The structures were susceptible to rotting in the humid sub-tropical climate and were highly flammable. In 1702 all the structures in St. Augustine with the exception of the Castillo de