The Hotel’s famed Art Gallery, which was established in 1907 and quickly became the venue for California's most prestigious artists, was also rebuilt; according to the detailed eyewitness account of Carmel artist Jennie V. Cannon, the space for exhibiting art was expanded. The Old Del Monte golf course opened in 1897 and is the oldest continuously operating golf course west of the Mississippi River. The Hotel Del Monte was requisitioned by the Navy at the beginning of World War II and used as a pre-flight training school. In 1947, the U.S. Navy purchased the hotel and its surrounding 627 acres for $2.5 million. In 1951 the United States Naval Academy's postgraduate school moved from Annapolis, Maryland, to its new location—the former Hotel del Monte. The hotel is now Herrmann Hall, the central building of the Naval Postgraduate School. Also on the grounds are nine additional structures including the Roman Plunge Pool Complex, built in 1918 and designed by Hobart and Tantau, later the architects of the third hotel building. The pool itself was designed by Hobart. The Roman Plunge Solarium was restored in 2012 by architect James D. McCord. At that time the main Plunge was reconstructed as a reflecting pool and its original above-ground finishes restored. The Arizona Garden (1882), originally designed by landscape architect Rudolph Ulrich, is also on the grounds. Humorist Josh Billings died at the hotel in 1885. Del Monte Foods traces its name back to an Oakland, California food distributor who used the brand name "Del Monte" for a premium coffee blend made especially for the hotel.