California Missions

A Chronology
Copyright 1999 by Joel GAzis-SAx

1713Birth of Junipero Serra on Majorca, Spain.
1749Father Serra is sent to Mexico as a missionary.
1769Father Serra is made president of the Baja California missions.
1769Sacred Expedition to Alta California. Serra goes along as religious leader.
1769July 16. Establishment of San Diego de Alcalá.
1770Father Serra sails up the coast to Monterey with Costansó and Fages.
1770June 3. Establishment of San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (Carmel) at Monterey.
1771Father Serra moves San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo to Carmel to prevent liasons between his female Indian converts and the soldiers at Monterey.
1771July 14. Establishment of Mission San Antonio de Padua.
1771September 1. Establishment of San Gabriel Arcángel.
1772 - 1773Father Serra travels to Mexico City to denounce Fages and ask for more support for his missions.
1772September 8. Establishment of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. The mission becomes a supply center for bear meat.
1774San Diego de Alcalá moved to present site.
1775 Construction of first San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Chapel.
1775San Gabriel Arcángel is moved to a new site five miles to the east of the original.
1775Mission revolt at San Diego de Alcalá. The chapel and outbuildings are burned.
1776Mission revolt at San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. The raiders destroy the log buildings by shooting flaming arrows into the thatched roofs.
1776June 29. Establishment of San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) by the Arroyo de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows Creek).
1776November 1. Establishment of San Juan Capistrano.
1777January 12. Establishment of Santa Clara de Asís on the banks of the Guadalupe River.
1777Construction of first chapel at San Juan Capistrano.
1779Flooding of the Guadalupe River force the relocation of Santa Clara de Asís.
1780Reconstruction of San Diego de Alcalá.
1782 - 1791Construction of the present chapel at San Francisco de Asís.
1782March 31. Establishment of San Buenaventura. It is the last of the missions to be founded by Father Serra.
1784Death of Father Serra. He is buried at Carmel.
1784Construction of new chapel at Santa Clara de Asís.
1786December 4. Establishment of Santa Barbara.
1787December 8. First establishment of La Purísima de Concepcíon.
1789June 13. Establishment of San Luis Rey de Francia.
1791August 28. Establishment of Santa Cruz.
1791October 9. First establishment of Nuestra Señora de Soledad.
1791 - 1805Construction of San Gabriel Arcángel.
1792 - 1793Construction of belfry at San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.
1793 - 1797Construction of present sandstone church at San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo.
1793December 14. Raiders from the village of Quiroste, near Point Año Nuevo, attack Mission Santa Cruz, wounding some of the guards and burning the guardhouse and lamb corral. It is the only attack ever made on a northern mission.
1794January. Soldiers are dispatched to Santa Cruz from the San Francisco and Monterey presidios. Eight Indians are taken captive. The leaders are shackled and eventually sent to the San Diego Presidio where they die in 1798.
1794Construction of chapel at Santa Barbara.
1794Original chapel at San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo replaced by a larger structure.
1795Completion of quandrangle at Santa Cruz.
1796 - 1806Construction of quandrangle at San Juan Capistrano.
1797June 11. Establishment of San José de Guadalupe.
1797June 24. Establishment of San Juan Bautista.
1797June 25. Establishment of San Miguel Arcángel.
1797Completion of chapel at Nuestra Señora de Soledad. It will be washed out several times by floods of the Salinas River.
1797Publication of Serra's biography by his friend, Father Francisco Palóu.
1797September 8. Establishment of San Fernando Rey de España.
1797Establishment of Branciforte Pueblo near Santa Cruz. Tensions between the mission community and the settlers will mount through the years.
1798Construction of chapel at San Juan Bautista.
1800San Diego de Alcalá destroyed in an earthquake.
1802Construction of first chapel at San Luis Rey de Francia.
1803 - 1812Construction of present church at San Juan Bautista.
1804September 17. Establishment of Santa Inés.
1805Enlargement of chapel at Nuestra Señora de Soledad.
1805 - 1809Construction of quadrangle at San José de Guadalupe.
1806Measles spreads through the northern missions
1806Construction of the quadrangle at San Fernando Rey de España.
1809Reconstruction of San Buenaventura following a fire.
1810 - 1813Construction of quandrangle at ission San Antonio de Padua.
1810Establishment of San Gabriel asistencia San Bernardino.
1811 - 1815Prosperity allows the construction of the mission quadrangle at San Luis Rey de Francia, the largest of the missions.
1812December 8. The Wrightwood Earthquake destroys everything at San Fernando Rey de España except the Convento.
1812December 8. Forty Indians are killed in the collapse of the church at San Juan Capistrano.
1812December 21. La Purísima de Concepcíon destroyed by earthquake and flood.
1812December 21. Santa Inés destroyed in Santa Barbara earthquake.
1812December 21. Adobe church at Santa Barbara destroyed by earthquake.
1812December 21. San Buenaventura damaged in Santa Barbara earthquake.
1813Construction of quadrangle at San Diego de Alcalá.
1813 - 1817Reconstruction of Santa Inés.
1814Governor Arrillaga buried at Nuestra Señora de Soledad.
1815 - 1818Reconstruction of La Purísima de Concepcíon.
1815 - 1833Reconstruction of Santa Barbara, a sandstone edifice which will be called the "Jewel of the Missions".
1815Establishment of San Luis Rey asistencia San Antonio de Pala.
1816Reconstruction of San Buenaventura.
1816 - 1821Construction of mission quandrangle at San Miguel Arcángel. The chapel is decorated with trompe l'oeil murals by Estévan Munras and his Indian assistants.
1817December 14. Establishment of San Rafael Arcángel. The missions originally serves as a sanitorium for San Francisco de Asís where natives made ill by new diseases brought by settlers and soldiers can recuperate or die. It later serves as a monastery.
1818Branciforte settlers sack Santa Cruz during the temporary abandonment of the mission because of a threatened raid by the pirate Bouchard.
1818Establishment of San Diego de Alcalá asistencia San Ysabel.
1818Thomas Doak decorates the interior of San Juan Bautista.
1818 - 1819Construction of new chapel at Santa Clara de Asís.
1823July 4. Establishment of San Francisco Solano, last of the missions.
1824La Purísima de Concepcíon mission revolt. Santa Inés is also affected.
1825Construction of final adobe chapel at Santa Clara de Asís.
1832Construction of new chapel at Nuestra Señora de Soledad.
1834Secularization of missions.
1836Santa Clara de Asís returned to the Catholic Church.
1840Construction of parish church at San Francisco Solano.
1842Discovery of gold at Placerita Canyon, part of the lands owned by San Fernando Rey de España.
1842Mexican President Santa Anna sequesters the Pious Fund, the endowment established for the financing of mission activities in Baja and Alta California. Santa Anna promises to give the interest to the Church.
1848Interest payments from the Pious Fund cease with the American invasion of California.
1851Transfer of Santa Clara de Asís by the Franciscans to the Jesuits, when it becomes the center of the new University of Santa Clara.
1851Mormon settlers use San Bernardino asistencia as a headquarters.
1857January 9. Bells at San Gabriel Arcángel thrown to ground by the massive Fort Tejon earthquake.
1862San Buenaventura and San Diego de Alcalá returned to the Catholic Church.
1865Construction of belfry at San Juan Bautista.
1868October 21. San José de Guadalupe destroyed in the Hayward Earthquake.
1870San Rafael Arcángel is razed.
1875 - 1876An international arbitration commission examines the question of the Pious Fund and rules that the Archdiocese of San Francisco is entitled to half the interest accumulated since 1848. The amount comes to $43,000 in Mexican gold.
1879 - 1930Restoration of San Fernando Rey de España.
1884Father Casanova erringly restores San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo.
1890After fulfilling its obligations to the Archdiocese of San Francisco up to the year 1869, Mexico refuses to make further interest payments on the Pious Fund.
1893Reconstruction of San Luis Rey de Francia, now used as a seminary, begins.
1901Renovation of San Miguel Arcángel.
1902The Hague Tribunal arranges for Mexico to pay a single lump sum to the Archdiocese of San Francisco as its share of the Pious Fund. ($1,427,682 in Mexican pesos.)
1903San Antonio de Pala returned to the Catholic Church.
1904Restoration of Santa Inés begins.
1906April 18-21. The Great Earthquake and Fire fails to damage San Francisco de Asís. The church, called a fire-trap worthy of demolition, marks the point at which fire fighters stop the further spread of the blaze. The Church decides not to raze the "old firetrap".
1906April 18. The Great Earthquake severely damages San Juan Bautista.
1911 - 1913Restoration of San Francisco Solano for inclusion in a State Historic Park.
1912First production of John McGroarty's The Mission Play in San Gabriel.
1912Annual payments against the Pious Fund debt to the Archdiocese of San Francisco cease with the begining of the Mexican Revolution.
1913First publication of Father Francisco Palóu.'s biography of Father Serra in English.
1916Construction of basilica at San Francisco de Asís.
1916Reconstruction of San José de Guadalupe.
1917Restoration of San Francisco de Asís by William Polk.
1918April 21. San Juan Capistrano damaged in San Jacinto earthquake.
1924Reconstruction of asistencia San Ysabel.
1925June 29. Santa Barbara church damaged in earthquake.
1926Santa Clara de Asís destroyed by a fire.
1928Further renovation of San Miguel Arcángel.
1929Reconstruction of Santa Clara de Asís.
1929Restoration of San Buenaventura.
1929Remodeling of belfry at San Juan Bautista.
1931Restoration of San Diego de Alcalá.
1931Reconstruction of Santa Cruz.
1932Father Serra's birthplace in Majorca, Spain, becomes the property of the City of San Francisco.
1933Reconstruction of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa begins.
1935 - 1941Reconstruction of La Purísima de Concepcíon
1935San Juan Bautista State Historic Park established.
1936Proper restoration of San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo.
1949San Rafael Arcángel rebuilt.
1950Further reconstruction of San José de Guadalupe.
1950Restoration of Santa Barbara facade.
1954Reconstruction of Nuestra Señora de Soledad.
1956 - 1958Construction of St. Anthony's Seminary at Santa Barbara.
1958Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo features scenes at Missions Dolores and San Juan Bautista.
1963Restoration of residence wing at Nuestra Señora de Soledad.
1967Mexico's Pious Fund debt is settled with the payment of $719,546 to the Archdioceses of San Francisco and Los Angeles.
1989October 18. Santa Cruz is damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake.
2000Insect damage threatens the wood statuary and frame of Mission Dolores.