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California Mission Facts
California Missions: Although there are only 21 missions on the map on page 74 of the Oh, California text, there were at least 22 locations marking missions on some old maps. This is because there was a Chapel away from the main mission grounds for at least one mission. In 1810 Father Peyri of San Luis Rey built San Antonio de Pala Chapel, called an Asistensia, to serve the Indians that lived too far from the regular mission.
The missions started in the South with the San Diego de Acala Mission, going North to the last of missions, San Francisco Solano. When Father Junipero Serra arrived in California in 1769, he was already 56 years old. He was not a young man even though he was ready to start a series of missions in California. There were two main reasons for starting the missions. One was to teach the Indians Christianity. Another was to develop California to prevent the Russians from controlling Alta (Northern) California.
There are two missions with the name San Francisco in them. One is San Francisco de Asis and the other is San Francisco Solano. The first, San Francisco de Asis, was built in what is now the City of San Francisco and became known as Mission Delores, after a small stream which ran through the mission grounds.
The last mission was built by Father Altimira at the request of the Mexican Governor because the influence of the Russian trading post in the Sonoma area. This mission was called San Francisco Solano. This is the only mission built without the permission of the Church authorities.
What mission had a separate Chapel, built for Indians who lived too far from the regular mission? Answer: The San Antonio de Pala Chapel was built to provide services for Indians who lived too far from San Luis Rey de Francia Mission.
What mission was built because of fear of the Russian trading post near Sonoma? Answer: The last mission, San Francisco Solano, was built without permission of the Church authorities at the request of the Governor because of the Russian Fort Ross which was located in the Sonoma area.
Would you like to see pictures of some of the mission buildings? Fourth grade students used the Internet to participate in a project called California Missions Interactive: An Internet Field Trip (CMI). A bicycle tour in May of 1995 was designed to copy the journeys of the eighteenth century Spanish colonists who often traveled the historic El Camino Real resting each night at one of the 21 California Missions. Two bicyclists sent reports and pictures to the fourth graders in Palo Alto. To view their reports, click on the names below of the eleven missions they visited:
San Luis Obispo de Tolosa Mission
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