Catholic Church - Missions of San Francisco Bay

IMAGES
of America

MISSIONS OF
SAN FRANCISCO BAY

This portrayal of coastal natives was painted in 1816 by Ludwig Andrevitch Choris (17951828), a historically important Ukrainian-born expedition artist. The balsas crafted of tule reeds featured several innovations, including a pointed prow and double-bladed paddles. The boats could carry up to four people along the shores and from island to island in the bay. The striped blanket shown being worn by the passenger at center was made by female neophytes at the missions. (Library of Congress.)

ON THE COVER: Posed in front of Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, the proud owner of a new 1928 Hudson chose the final northern stop on El Camino Real and the last stop of the chain of 21 missions as a memorable backdrop. (Anderson family collection.)

IMAGES
of America

MISSIONS OF
SAN FRANCISCO BAY

Robert A. Bellezza

Copyright 2014 by Robert A. Bellezza
ISBN 978-0-7385-9684-6
Ebook ISBN 9781439644621

Published by Arcadia Publishing
Charleston, South Carolina

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013946444

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To my son, Tony, and daughter, Tara, for sharing and making our own California history.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Collection supplied the majority of images within this volume and makes possible a review of Californias founding architectural landmarks practically lost through centuries of age, deterioration, and neglect. Californias mission buildings were rescued only after the majority had suffered the effects of earthquakes, irreversible weathering, and ruin to their adobe walls. By the beginning of the 20th century, there had been efforts to preserve the earliest missions, often built and decorated entirely by California natives. The work employing the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and photographers from the 1933 New Deal documented the progress or decay of the many iconic structures through the Historic American Buildings Survey.

Unless otherwise indicated, all images are courtesy of the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey.

Several photographs within this volume are released for the first time from vintage glass plate negatives in my collection and the Anderson family collection. Many up-to-date mission photographs featured in are from my visits to each area.

A compliment goes to the Sonoma County Historical Society, in particular Sandi Hansen, and the overwhelming archive of material she oversees at the Depot Museum in Sonoma.

The founder and president of the Alta California missions, Miguel Josep Serra was born in Petra, Majorca, one of the Balearic Islands, located some 150 miles off the coast of the Spanish mainland. His religious name of Junpero was chosen after a contemporary and lesser known devotee of St. Francis Assisi. I am truly pleased that this books release coincides with the 300th anniversary of his birth, November 24, 1713.

INTRODUCTION

The convergence of settlers by land and sea at San Diegos harbor in 1769 brought European colonization to Alta California. The establishment of a historic settlement and presidio was followed by a 54-year turbulent era of Spanish mission culture leading the way into uncharted northern territories. Captains Fernando de Rivera y Moncada and Gasper de Portol, accompanied by Franciscan padres with initial expeditions along El Camino Real, or The Royal Highway, opened nearly 650 miles. The Franciscan clergy supervised expanding industries and a prosperous cultivation of crops and livestock. Generations of native Indian neophytes were assimilated within the massive mission quadrangles. Spanish control was ceded with the transition of power from the victory in 1821 by the Republic of Mexico, ending the long lineage. The 21st mission and last in Alta California, Mission San Francisco Solano, had been dedicated by Fr. Jos Altimira on July 4, 1823, at El Pueblo de Sonoma.

THE TRAIL OF DISCOVERY

Mexico Citys viceroy, Jos de Galvez, planned the first colonies in Alta California with Spanish missionary Fr. Junpero Serra to establish territorial defenses of Spains uncharted possession. Over many decades, seafaring navigators charting Californias coast were followed by land expeditions. On July 16, 1769, with soldiers, conquistadors, and new settlers, the Spanish Franciscan padres began to explore Californias immense upper territories. Mission settlements in Baja California, begun by Padre Juan Mara Salvatierra in 1697, were replicated with a series of 21 Alta California missions, employing generations of mission Indian neophytes as the builders. A first mission of simple mud-covered brush enramadas grew into buildings of elaborate stonework and adobe brick, centrally available in pueblo quadrangles. The impressive buildings of crafted stone, adobe brick, and clay tile were made by skilled Spanish builders aided by apprentice native neophytes. Miguel Josep Serra was born in 1713 on Majorca, a distant Spanish island, in the town of Petra. He took the name Junpero and became a devotee of the Franciscan order, traveling as a missionary in 1749. He first visited Puerto Rico, and then sailed to Vera Cruz, Mexico. After landing, Father Serra displayed an act of tremendous religious zeal, choosing to walk 275 miles through the deep jungles to reach the spiritual seat of the New World and the Franciscan San Fernando College in Mexico City. In 1750, Father Serra began his work within the jungles of Mexico, emerging into Baja, where he was quickly elevated by the church to mission president in 1767. Providing great experience and knowledge of agriculture and an unrelenting strength as a day laborer, Father Serra also displayed his unique talents as a linguist and educator. He mixed his days of farming, building, spinning, weaving, and sewing with theatrical reenactments of biblical events, performed to enlighten native neophytes. At 56 years of age, Father Serra began making plans to travel by sea to meet the Baja governor, explorer Don Gaspar de Portol, in Monterey. Portol assembled a group of padres, leatherjacket soldiers, and scouting parties and established Alta Californias new northern capital, presidio, and mission on June 3, 1770, with great fanfare. Sgt. Jos de Ortega, pathfinder of Portols expedition, first sighted San Franciscos vast harbor in 1769. Juan Manuel de Ayala commanded a voyage to San Francisco Bay and charted the area in 1775, after several other attempts by Spanish explorers. Lt. Col. Juan Bautista de Anza marched over 1,000 miles to the Pacific, bringing 235 settlers out of the Mexican Sonoran Desert, through the sands of the Mojave Desert, and onto Alta Californias stunning harbor and bay, named for the Franciscan orders patron, St. Francis of Assisi.

A MISSION FOR ST. FRANCIS

In 1776, the founding of San Francisco occurred serendipitously less than a week from Americas Independence Day of July 4. De Anza located the new presidio site near a small lake and stream christened Arroyo de los Dolores, honoring Our Lady of Sorrows, and venerated the mission with the designation of the Virgin Mary on the last Friday of Lent. De Anza brought with him settlers from Sinaloa and Sonora, Mexico, including carpenters, masons, farmers, and families with farm animals and supplies. Following the dedication of Mission San Francisco de Ass, under an order from Mexico Citys viceroy to secure more Spanish settlements within the territories of Alta California, Mission Santa Clara became the eighth in California on January 12, 1777, established by Fr. Junpero Serra at the edge of Rio Guadalupe near the meadows. Nearby, El Pueblo de San Jos de Guadalupe became the first town chartered in California, founded by Jos Joaqun Moraga on November 29, 1777. Expanding to the west in 1791, Mission Santa Cruz was established and located on a hilltop overlooking the town and sea. Today, rare original housing known as the Neary-Rodriguez or School Street Adobe, once quarters for neophytes adjacent to the original missions grounds, is still standing. The Mission del Gloriossima Patriarca San Jos was founded June 11, 1797, by Fr. Fermn Francisco de Lasun and was a success, converting a total of 6,736 neophytes to the church by the 1830s. At first, Mission San Rafael, Arcngel, was built as a hospital and