Quick Information
Founded: December 4, 1786 by Padre Fermin Francisco de Lasuén
Mission#: 10th
Indian Tribe: Chumash
Mission#: 10th
Indian Tribe: Chumash
The Building of the Mission
Most of the California missions were built as a large quadrangle with an inner patio in the center. A church usually was at one corner of the quadrangle and was always the tallest and largest part of the mission. Facing the inner patio were rooms for the two priests living there, workshops, a kitchen, storage rooms for grain and food, and the mission office. Rooms along the back of the quadrangle served as home to the unmarried Indian women who worked in the kitchen. T Outside the walls, 250 Indian houses were built to the left of the Mission, plus a tannery, a pottery, and some storage buildings. Huge fields surrounded the mission where crops grew and livestock.
The first mission buildings were built in 1787 out of logs and had roofs made out of straw and mixed with mud. In 1789 an new church made of adobe was built, then a bigger adobe one was built five years later. The church stood until 1812 when it was damaged by an earthquake. Finally, they decided to build the church out of sandstone. With Father Antonio Ripoll in charge, the work on the new stone church begun in 1815 and was completed in five years. The church was destroyed in an earthquake in 1925. It took two years to repair it and the people in California sent in money to help pay for the repair costs of $400,000.
The first mission buildings were built in 1787 out of logs and had roofs made out of straw and mixed with mud. In 1789 an new church made of adobe was built, then a bigger adobe one was built five years later. The church stood until 1812 when it was damaged by an earthquake. Finally, they decided to build the church out of sandstone. With Father Antonio Ripoll in charge, the work on the new stone church begun in 1815 and was completed in five years. The church was destroyed in an earthquake in 1925. It took two years to repair it and the people in California sent in money to help pay for the repair costs of $400,000.
Life at the Mission
Each morning, all the Indians woke up by the church bell calling them to church. Then they had breakfast . . . then they worked. The women spun thread, made cloths, and cooked meals. Men and older boys, worked in workshops or fields, and constructed buildings. Meanwhile, the Indian children went to school, where the padres taught them. After a noon meal, there was a two hour break before work began again. There was music and singing at the mission. Father Narciso Duran formed an Indian orchestra. Mission Santa Barbara had a very good water system. In 1809, there were 5,000 head of cattle. In 1821, 12,820 bushels were harvested. More than 50 other trades were taught to the Indians at the Mission. |
The Secularization of the Mission
When Mexico broke away from Spain, it found that to didn't have enough money to support the California missions. In 1834, Mexico put a secularization law which their government had ordered several years before that. This law stated missions to be taken away from the missionaries and given to the Indians. The law said that if an Indian did not want the land or buildings, the property was to be sold to anyone who wanted to buy it. The Mexican priest, Father Duran who became president of the mission chain and Bishop Francisco Diego, California's first bishop both moved to Mission Santa Barbara. After two very important priests in California lived in the Mission, no one wanted to take charge of it. After the two priests died, a Mexican governor, Pio Pico, wanted to sell Mission Santa Barbara and keep all the money for himself. California became American territory just in time to stop the sale. The American government sent Franciscan priests from Missouri to be in charge of the Mission.