La Purisima Mission

This article is about the mission in Lompoc, California. For other missions called La Purísima Concepción, see La Purísima Concepción.

La Purisima Mission

La Purisima Mission
Location	2295 Purisima Road, Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California 93436
Name as founded	La Misión de La Purísima Concepción de la Santísima Virgen María
English translation	The Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary
Patron	The Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary
Nickname(s)	"The Linear Mission"
Founding date	December 8, 1787
Founding priest(s)	Father Fermín Lasuén
Founding Order	Eleventh
Headquarters of the Alta California Mission System	1815–1819
Military district	Second
Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s)	Chumash Purisimeño
Native place name(s)	Laxshakupi, 'Amuwu
Baptisms	3,255
Marriages	1,029
Burials	2,609
Secularized	1834
Returned to the Church	1874
Governing body	California Department of Parks and Recreation
Current use	Museum
National Historic Landmark	#NPS-70000147
Date added to the NRHP	1970
California Historical Landmark	#340
Website	http://www.lapurisimamission.org

The ruins of Mission La Purísima Concepción, c. 1900.

Mission La Purisima Concepción, or La Purisima Mission, with the original Spanish name being La Misión de La Purísima Concepción de la Santísima Virgen María, was founded on the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin on December 8, 1787. The present day and second site is located east of the town of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County, California, between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Mission La Purisima is currently the only example in California of a complete Spanish Catholic mission complex.

History

Mission La Purisima was originally established at a site known to the the Chumash people as Algsacpi and to the Spanish as the plain of Rio Santa Rosa, one mile south of Lompoc. The Viceroyalty of New Spain made an exception to the rule that no California mission was to be established within seven miles of any pueblo in Las Californias, as Lompoc was so small.

By 1803, the Mission Indians population had increased, by Indian Reductions, to 1,436 Chumash people. The mission also had 3,230 cattle, 5,400 sheep, 306 horses, and 37 mules. In the same year, there was a harvest of 690 fanegas of wheat, corn and beans (a fanega equaling about 220 pounds).

An earthquake on December 21, 1812, severely damaged the mission buildings. New buildings were constructed four miles east of the pueblo at their present location, which was known to the Chumash as Amúu, and to the Spanish as La Cañada de los Berros, now part of the reconstructed La Purísima Mission State Historic Park. Ruins of the original mission are at 508 South F Street, near East Locust Avenue.

After Mexico won the Mexican War of Independence in 1823, Spanish funding ceased to the Santa Barbara Presidio. Many soldiers at the mission who were no longer being paid by the new Mexican government took out their frustrations on the local Chumash Indians. After a soldier apparently beat an Indian at nearby Mission Santa Inés, the Chumash Revolt of 1824 occurred at that mission. It spread to La Purisima Mission, where the Chumash people took over the mission for one month until more soldiers arrived from Monterey Presidio. Eventually, the Chumash lost their hold on the mission with many leaving the mission soon thereafter. However, many of the Indians who had sought refuge in the neighboring mountains during the revolt returned to the mission.

Following independent Mexico's secularization of the Alta California missions from 1834 to 1843, the buildings of La Purisima Mission were abandoned, and the lands were granted Rancho Ex-Mission la Purisima. By 1934, only nine of the buildings remained intact.

In the 20th century, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) pledged to restore the mission if enough land could be provided to convert it into a historic landmark. The Catholic Church and the Union Oil Company donated sufficient land for the CCC to proceed with the restoration. The nine buildings as well as many small structures and the original water system were fully restored with the mission's dedication occurring on December 7, 1941, the same day the United States entered World War II. Today, La Purisima Mission is the only example in California of a complete mission complex.

La Purísima Mission State Historic Park

La Purisima Mission is now part of the La Purísima Mission State Historic Park within the California State Parks System. With a visitor center and guided tours, the historic park is maintained by the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR). Today, the mission is no longer used as a Catholic parish. The mission is reportedly haunted by the Indians and Spaniards who died there and has recently been featured on the paranormal reality TV shows Ghost Adventures, The Othersiders and The Missions of California.

Historic designations

• National Register of Historic Places #NPS-78000775 – original La Purisima Mission site.
• California Historical Landmark #928 – original La Purisima Mission site.
• Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail – a designated Historic Site on the route of this National Park Service United States National Historic Trail

See also

• USNS Mission Purisima (AO-118) — a Buenaventura Class fleet oiler built during World War II.

References

• Forbes, Alexander (1839). California: A History of Upper and Lower California. Smith, Elder and Co., Cornhill, London. 
• Jones, Terry L. and Kathryn A. Klar (eds.) (2007). California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity. Altimira Press, Landham, MD. ISBN 0-759-10872-2. 
• Krell, Dorothy (ed.) (1979). The California Missions: A Pictorial History. Sunset Publishing Corporation, Menlo Park, CA. ISBN 0-376-05172-8. 
• Leffingwell, Randy (2005). California Missions and Presidios: The History & Beauty of the Spanish Missions. Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN. ISBN 0-89658-492-5. 
• Paddison, Joshua (ed.) (1999). A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush. Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA. ISBN 1-890771-13-9. 
• Ruscin, Terry (1999). Mission Memoirs. Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA. ISBN 0-932653-30-8. 
• Yenne, Bill (2004). The Missions of California. Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, CA. ISBN 1-59223-319-8. 

External links

• La Purisima Mission's Home Page
• Elevation & Site Layout sketches of the Mission proper
• The Missions of California - History and restoration of California's 11th mission
• Purisima Mission Early photographs, sketches, land surveys of La Purisima Mission, via Calisphere, California Digital Library
• Early History of the California Coast, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
• Official U.S. National Park Service Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail website