Santa Barbara Mission - Santa Barbara

[johnny]

http://www.californiamissions.com/cahistory/santabarbara.html









-Over 5,000 pioneers and Indians are buried on the grounds at the SB Mission.
-Reports of people seeing apparitions or shadows on the grounds, mostly near the on grounds cemetery is reported.
-A report of an apparition of a monk walking the grounds has been reported.


History of the St. Barbara Mission:
The "Queen of the Missions". On a spring day in 1782 the Padre Presidente of the California Missions, Father Jun?pero Serra, and the Spanish Governor de Neve founded (as Serra supposed) the presidio and mission of Santa Barbara. Today the mission archives preserve the record book of the mission which the earnest padre carefully started on that day. But the arbitrary governor would not allow the actual establishment of the mission. A frustrated Father Serra retired to Carmel, where he died two years later on August 28, 1784. Father Fermin Lasu?n, one of the missionaries who had arrived with Serra at San Diego, became the new Padre Presidente and the actual founder of Mission Santa Barbara, December 4, 1786.
  The difficult years were over and the "Golden Age" of the California Missions was dawning. Launched as it was at the beginning of such prosperous times, Santa Barbara had the greatest of good fortune during all its early years. True, an early church was destroyed in the earthquake of 1812, but a new and more impressive edifice was already needed.
Santa Barbara's mission church, with its world-famous twin bell towers, boasts of a stone facade patterned after an ancient Latin temple in pre-Christian Rome. The design is traced to a book brought to California by the Franciscans, a Spanish reprint of an architecture book originally published in 27 B.C. This beautiful new church stood firm for over a hundred years until suffering severe damage in an earthquake in 1925. Two years of rebuilding plus later restoration work has maintained the exact original appearance.
The Indians at Santa Barbara, more intelligent and cooperative than some, quickly made the new mission self-sustaining. 150 neophytes actually were armed and trained to reinforce the presidio guard in 1818 against a threatened attack by the French pirate, Bouchard.
  Of all the California missions, only lovely Santa Barbara essentially escaped the exploitation suffered from secular elements at other locations, helped by the joint residency of the last Padre Presidente and the first Bishop of the Californias. When both men died in 1846 an eager Pio Pico rushed in for the coup but he was too late, for California became United States Territory.
Having been occupied by the Franciscans from the day of the founding until the present, Santa Barbara's interior appearance has changed little, due to continuous loving care. But on the outside, gone are the mud huts of the Indian village. In their stead are green lawns, and a beautiful rose garden, beyond which the modern city stretches to the blue Pacific. The present stone church, with its familiar twin bell towers, is the fourth to stand on the site counting the first rough, temporary chapel.
  Lovely Santa Barbara is the only mission in the California chain remaining under control of the Franciscans without interruption from the day of its founding until the present time. All others were abandoned one by one after the Mexican secularization decrees robbed the missions of their lands and control over the Indians.
Early in the 19th century the mission had more than 1,700 Indian neophytes living in a village of 250 adobe houses. More adaptable and energetic than some, the Santa Barbara Indians soon helped to make the mission self-sustaining. At one time 150 neophytes actually were armed and drilled to reinforce the Spanish presidio guard. After secularization the mission became a parish church, first Mexican and later American.

(some information was found on hauntedhouses.com and richard senate's web site)

[bellalaghoste]

wasn't there a large fire that killed some people there also how many times has this place been revamped?
I heard there has been 5 new roofs over the many years it been standing. 

[johnny]

wasn't there a large fire that killed some people there also how many times has this place been revamped?
I heard there has been 5 new roofs over the many years it been standing. 

I'm not sure about the fires (yet) I really need to do more research with a local historian, but I did read that the mission crumbled during a real bad earthquake in the late 1800s or early 1900s... to be continued

[bellalaghoste]

cool thanks buddy

[PPI Brian]

Thanks for sharing this with us, Johnny.

Santa Barbara is a beautiful mission. I would like to check it out some day. 

[PPI Glenn]

Love those historical pictures. Do you know when they were taken?

[johnny]

Love those historical pictures. Do you know when they were taken?

Father Fermin Francisco de Lasu?n consecrated it on December 16, 1786, as the 10th California mission, located at Santa Barbara Presidio. The first, temporary structure, erected in 1787, was replaced by an adobe church in 1789, and that in turn by a larger building in 1793-94, which the disastrous earthquake of 1812 destroyed. In 1815, a labor force of Canalino Indians began to construct the present large stone church, completed for the most part by 1820 -

This historical account and the wooden/adobe structure leads  me to think the first picture is a photo from between 1794-1812 as the original building was a small adobe structure and the larger adobe/wooden structure that is in the photograph didn't get built until 1793 it seems.  The larger stone building that we see the mission as today was built after the devastating earthquake of 1812 (finished around 1820 possibly the 2nd photo) then destroyed again by the earthquake of 1925 after standing for over a 100 years..

What was noticeable in between the first two photos above is the new roofing and the new looking built stone building in the 2nd photo. After the 1812 earthquake, reconstruction was with stone for the new facade, which I believe the 2nd photo to be, therefore the 2nd photo looks definitely post 1820, maybe even late 1800s to early 1900s.

There is no report of any fire devastating the Santa Barbara Mission, at least not yet that I've come across.  The numerous roof renovations seem to be from the constant upgrading and the 2 reconstructions after the 2 major earthquakes of 1812 and 1925. I count 4 new roofs including the 2 earthquakes that damaged the building.  1-new building, 1-upgraded building, 1-earthquake of 1812 and 1-earthquake of 1925.  This might account for the many roof builds its had.

As soon as I get my digital voice recorder in, I am going to try to track down a couple local historian resources and interview them eventually for both the Santa Barbara Mission and the Camarillo State Mental Hospital. I love history and cultures/society so I'll probably pursue this and see what other juicy information I can dig up.

[johnny]

OK, so further research into the SB Mission -

-Claims over 5000 pioneers and indians are buried on the grounds of the mission.
-The mission is a modern museum housing many many everyday artifacts from indian, spanish, catholic and pioneers.  These are housed all over the premises.
-Various claims of apparitions or shadows walking the grounds on numerous occasions, one being a figure of a monk in historically correct garbs.
-The building we see today was in fact the one rebuilt after the first major earthquake in 1820.

[PPI Glenn]

I'd have to say that the pictures are from a later period, possibly 1870-1880. I don't think they could have come from before 1812 since the first photograph wasn't taken until 1826.

This historical account and the wooden/adobe structure leads  me to think the first picture is a photo from between 1794-1812 as the original building was a small adobe structure and the larger adobe/wooden structure that is in the photograph didn't get built until 1793 it seems.  The larger stone building that we see the mission as today was built after the devastating earthquake of 1812 (finished around 1820 possibly the 2nd photo) then destroyed again by the earthquake of 1925 after standing for over a 100 years..

[johnny]

I'd have to say that the pictures are from a later period, possibly 1870-1880. I don't think they could have come from before 1812 since the first photograph wasn't taken until 1826.

This historical account and the wooden/adobe structure leads  me to think the first picture is a photo from between 1794-1812 as the original building was a small adobe structure and the larger adobe/wooden structure that is in the photograph didn't get built until 1793 it seems.  The larger stone building that we see the mission as today was built after the devastating earthquake of 1812 (finished around 1820 possibly the 2nd photo) then destroyed again by the earthquake of 1925 after standing for over a 100 years..

Ah, that would certainly make the picture later that 1826 , you are a plethura of knowledge..   Awesome