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Santa Barbara Mission –
Place - Santa Barbara Mission
2201 Laguna Street
Santa Barbara, California 93105
Web Link * (805) 682-4713
DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY:
The Santa Barbara Mission was the tenth of
the California Missions to be founded by the Spanish Franciscans.
It was established on the Feast of St. Barbara, December 4,
Padre Junipero Serra, who had founded the
first nine Missions, had died 2 years earlier. It was Padre Fermin
Francisco de Lasuen, his successor, who raised the cross and made
the first converts.
The original buildings were unpretentious
and made of adobe. Over time three adobe churches were constructed
on the grounds, each larger than the one before until the fourth
and present church was built in 1820. The third was destroyed by
earthquake in 1812. The fountain in front was built in 1808.
The earthquake of June 29, 1925 damaged the
Mission church and friary considerably. The earthquake occurred
during a chapel service. People rushed out of the chapel while the
beams in the front of the church fell. Fortunately no one was hurt.
Restoration work was completed in 1927 and the towers reinforced in
Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the
land from Malibu to San Luis Obispo was inhabited by the Chumash
Indians. They were hunters and gatherers oriented to the sea. They
built plank boats (tomols) which were capable of traveling to the
Channel Islands. Chumash villages were autonomous, headed by a
hereditary leader. Houses were semi-oval huts built of tule.
Basketry was a major art form as were stone bowls and tools. Houses
were dome shaped with tules covering a willow frame.
Ghosts have been seen walking around the
old graveyard connected to this mission.
Over 5,000 pioneers and Indians are buried