California Missions: 50 Interesting Facts

The California missions are home to fascinating stories and interesting facts. The following is a list 50 things you might not know about the missions– but there are many more to discover.

Pirate Raid

In 1818, a French privateer named Hippolyte Bouchard (known in Spanish as Hipólito Bouchard), led a series of raids along the coast of Alta California. Bouchard attacked the Presidio of Monterey and attempted to raid the presidio and mission of Santa Barbara, as well as Mission San Juan Capistrano, before returning to South America.

Indian Cowboys

Some of the earliest vaqueros (cowboys) were Native Americans working on mission ranchos. Vaqueros had a high social status at the missions, and many later went to work on non-mission ranchos in Mexican California.

Learn more about ranchos in Alta California.

The Mark of Zorro

Mission San Luis Rey served as a location for the 1950’s Disney television series Zorro.  

The Oldest Mission

The oldest of the California missions is Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded on July 16, 1769 by Fr. Junípero Serra.

The Youngest Mission

The most recent of the Spanish missions in California is San Francisco Solano, founded on July 4, 1823, which is also the birthday of Gen. Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.

Learn more about the history of Mission San Francisco Solano.

The Cemetery of the Stars

Among the celebrities buried at Mission San Fernando are actor Bob Hope and singer Richie Valens.

Native Wall Paintings

The walls of the Mission San Miguel Arcángel church are decorated with some of the only surviving examples of painting done by artists of the Salinan people.

The Hospital That Became a Mission

Mission San Rafael Arcángel started as a hospital for sick members of the Native American community at San Francisco de Asís.

Read more about the history of Mission San Rafael Arcángel.

State Park Missions

Two of California’s missions are operated as State Parks: Mission La Purísima Concepción in Lompoc and Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma. Mission Santa Cruz State Historic Park preserves the living quarters of Native American families from Mission Santa Cruz.

Campus Mission

Mission Santa Clara de Asís is the only mission in the middle of a college campus. It is located at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.

Mission Cattle Brands

Since missions operated as ranches, each mission had its own cattle brand.

Fr. Serra Rejected by the Franciscans

Junípero Serra, the Franciscan missionary who established the California mission chain, was originally considered too frail to join the Franciscan order.

Solar Geometry

Many of the California mission churches are built so that on on special feast days and the solstices, the sun’s rays enters through the mission windows to illuminate certain statues or the altar.

Mission Orchestras

Many missions had their own orchestras that for performing music at masses and other celebrations. The orchestras played not only religious compositions, but other types of classical music.

President Lincoln and the Missions

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed a document that returned the California mission buildings to the care of the Catholic Church. 

California’s First Libraries

The Spanish missions contained the first libraries in California. Although few people on the frontier knew how to read and write, the Spanish padres were highly educated men who brought books with them wherever they went. They also needed books to perform the sacraments and teach religion, music and trades to the Native Americans who lived at the missions.

Baja California Missions

There were 21 missions founded in Baja California before missions were established in Alta California. The first, Nuestra Señora de Loreto, was founded in 1697. One of them, San Fernando de Velicatá, was founded by Junípero Serra himself.

Adobe Matters

The adobe bricks of the California missions contain straw and mud, but also manure and other items like seashells and bones.

The Rebirth of the California Missions

After the missions were secularized in the 1830s, most of them fell into disrepair and had to be restored or even rebuilt in the 20th century. Restorationists such as Sir Harry Downie worked tirelessly to bring the mission buildings to condition in which we find them today.

Mission Surgery

There were very few doctors in Alta California, so Franciscan friars were responsible for medical treatment at the missions. The Mission Santa Barbara Archive-Library contains the first medical treatise written in California. Drafted in 1830, it is a detailed guide to performing cesarean section surgery.

A Devastating Earthquake

On December 8, 1812, a powerful earthquake shook Southern California. The Wrightwood Earthquake, as it is now known, damaged several of the California missions, and destroyed the great stone church at Mission San Juan Capistrano, killing 40 people who were inside. Experts estimate that the temblor measured 7.5 on the Richter Scale.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mission

The film Vertigo, starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak and directed by Alfred Hitchcock was partially filmed at San Juan Bautista. 

The Island of the Blue Dolphins

Juana María, the lone woman of San Nicolás Island, upon which the novel Island of the Blue Dolphins is based, is buried at Mission Santa Bárbara.

Mission Militias

Many missions had militias made up of Native American men who had been trained to do battle in order to defend the mission territory.

The Governor Buried in the Franciscan Habit

Gov. Jose Joaquín de Arrillaga was the first Spanish governor of Alta California after its separation from Baja California, and the only Spanish governor to buried in the State of California. He died in 1813 and was buried at Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, dressed in the habit of the Franciscan Order.

The Vaquero Chief

José María, the chief of the Chumash village of Syuxtun, was a vaquero at Mission Santa Bárbara. 

The County Named for a Mission Rebel

Stanislaus County is named after Estanislao, an Indian alcalde from Mission San José who led a successful revolt in the 1820s.

The True Cross

The full name of Mission Santa Cruz translates as “The Mission of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.” At the mission museum, there is a reliquary which claims to contain pieces of the Cross of Christ. In the church at Mission San José there is a reliquary that claims to contain shavings from the nails of the Cross of Christ.

The Swallows of San Juan Capistrano

Each year in the springtime, swallows migrate thousands of miles to Mission San Juan Capistrano to make their nests. The mission celebrates their return on the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19. 

The Battle of Santa Clara

In 1847 Californios unsuccessfully fought U.S. Marines in the only land battle of the Mexican-American War to happen in Northern California. The engagement, which some historians have called a skirmish, took place just west of Mission Santa Clara.

Missions of Brick

Though most of the missions are made of adobe, six of the California mission churches incorporated square bricks called ladrillos: San Antonio de Padua, Santa Inés, San Luis Rey, Mission San Diego de Alcalá, San Buenaventura and San Juan Bautista. 

The Wooden Bell

Not all mission bells were metal. Mission San Buenaventura conserves one of the only surviving examples of a wooden bell, bound with rawhide strips.

The Master Carpenter

Master carpenter José Antonio Ramírez, from Jalisco, Mexico, helped build a number of mission churches in Alta California, and taught Native Americans to do the same.  He was known to have a strong affection for chocolate.

The Carpenter Who Revolted

Pacomio Poqui, a Chumash carpenter, helped rebuild mission La Purísima after it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812. He was a leader in the Chumash revolt of 1824, and later moved to Monterey and become a well-known furniture maker.

A Chumash Tabernacle

At the Mission Santa Bárbara museum there a tabernacle (container for holding the consecrate bread from Catholic masses) made by Chumash artisans. It is faced with mirrors and inlayed with mother-of-pearl from abalone shells.

La Conquistadora of Carmel

At Mission San Carlos Borromeo, there is a life-sized clothed statue of Our Lady of Bethlehem, known as La Conquistadora. It was made in Mexico City and came to California in 1769.

A Native Way of the Cross

Mission San Gabriel contains a series of paintings of the Way of the Cross painted by Indian artists at Mission San Fernando. 

San Miguel and the Earthquake of 2003

Mission San Miguel Arcángel was struck by the San Simeon earthquake on December 22, 2003. It took several years and a massive fundraising effort to fully repair the church and the other buildings that suffered damage.

Army Occupation

Mission San Diego de Alcalá was occupied by the U.S. Army from 1849 to 1857, and the church was used as a barracks and a stable.

The Mission on an Army Base

Mission San Antonio de Padua is located on Fort Hunter Liggett, U.S. Army Reserve’s largest training installation. The land for some time was owned by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.

The San Francisco Mission Saloon

In 1849, buildings at Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) housed a brewery, two taverns, a dancing room, a saloon and a hospital.

The Moving Mission

Mission Santa Clara de Asís changed location three times thanks to flooding. The current church was built after a fire in destroyed the previous one in 1926.

A Mission on a Fault

Mission San Juan Bautista is built right on top of the San Andreas fault, California’s most active earthquake fault.

California’s First Seminary

In 1844, Mission Santa Inés became the location of the first seminary for training Catholic priests in California.

An Indian Padre

Fr. José Lorenzo Quijas, a friar who served at San Francisco Solano, San Rafael and San José, was one of the only Franciscans in California not born in Spain or Mexico. He was Indian, mostly likely born in Ecuador, and before becoming a priest had been a muleteer and trader.

Where is Mission San José?

Mission San José is located in Fremont — not San José, California. 

California’s Oldest Building

The Serra Chapel at Mission San Juan Capistrano is considered the oldest surviving building in California, and the only remaining chapel in which Fr. Serra celebrated Mass and administered the sacrament of Confirmation.

A Russian Bell

Mission San Fernando houses a Russian bell cast in 1796 on Kodiak Island, Alaska (at the time part of the Russian Empire). The bell carries an inscription written in Old Slavonic. How the bell arrived in California remains a mystery.

Chinigchinich

Friar Jerónimo Boscana wrote one of the first ethnographical treatises on California, a description of Native American religion in the area of Mission San Juan Capistrano. The text was later published in English under the title of “Chinigchinich,” the name of one of the major figures of mentioned by Boscana.

The Ancient Youth Center

The youth center of Mission San Luis Obispo once served as the padres’ soup kitchen. The building has been standing since the 1790s.

These are just 50 interesting facts about the California missions. There are many more to discover!