MISSION DOLORES

Description

Essentials about Mission Dolores in brief

Believers and those interested in history should definitely pay a visit to Mission Dolores during a trip to San Francisco. The mission is the oldest surviving building in the city and tells an eventful story. Actually, Mission Dolores is called Mission San Francisco de Asís (after Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order), but quickly took the name of the nearby stream Arroyo de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (engl. “stream of the Mother of Sorrows”).

The history of Mission Dolores

Historically, Mission Dolores dates back to the so-called Anza Expedition, which brought Spanish settlers to northern California in the 1770s and Christianized the resident Ohlone Indian tribe. The mission was founded in 1776 by two expedition members, Lieutenant Joaquin José Moraga and Franciscan Father Francisco Palóu, and was the sixth mission station in California.

The mission’s old chapel, which can still be seen today, was built of adobe between 1782 and 1791. All other buildings at Mission Dolores fell victim to its checkered history. The history of the mission is closely linked to the fate of the Ohlone Indians. They were forced to work on the construction and later the upkeep of the mission and fell victim en masse to infectious diseases introduced by the European settlers. Estimates suggest that more than 5,000 Indians were buried in the mission’s cemetery.

In 1834, the Mexican government, which still ruled California at the time, passed a secularization law allowing for the sale of church property to private owners. As a result, many parts of Mission Dolores were no longer used for church purposes, but as saloons or gambling halls for the steadily growing city of San Francisco. In the second half of the 19th century, the mission complex was remodeled and a neo-Gothic brick church was built. The great earthquake of 1906 eventually devastated large parts of the mission. The brick church collapsed and many mission buildings were victims of the fires that broke out. Fortunately, the mission’s original adobe buildings survived the earthquake relatively unscathed. Between 1913 and 1918, the old church was replaced by a new basilica, which today makes the mission chapel next to it seem small.

The church and the cemetery of Mission Dolores

Mission Dolores is still an active church today. Services and other events are held in both the old mission chapel and the new basilica. The mission’s cemetery and beautiful gardens can also be visited. The mission’s cemetery – the only one within San Francisco city limits – is much smaller today than in times past. Some 5,000 Indians of the Ohlone and Miwok tribes are buried here, as well as several prominent citizens, such as Luis Antonio Arguello, the first Mexican governor, Don Francisco de Haro, the first mayor of San Francisco, and Lieutenant Moraga, the first commander of the Presidio.