S.B. Historical Museum

La Purísima mission, pictured above in 1910, was neglected and crumbling for many years before being deeded to California and restored.

Actually, there have been two La Purísima missions, on different sites. The first mission was destroyed in a massive earthquake in 1812. The padres then rebuilt the mission in a different spot, and it is that mission that visitors enjoy today as a state historic park.

In 1785, Sergeant Pablo de Cota, stationed at Mission San Buenaventura, was ordered to scout out a good location for a new mission, which was to be roughly equidistant between the missions at San Luis Obispo (1772) and Santa Barbara, to be founded in 1786. Cota discovered an excellent site, located in what today is the City of Lompoc, between E and G streets.

On December 8, 1787, a party that included Governor Pedro Fages, Sergeant Cota, and the padre presidente of the California missions (Fermín Francisco de Lasuén) dedicated the site for Misión La Purísima Concepción de María Santísima (Mission of the Immaculate Conception of Most Holy Mary). Actual construction began in spring 1788, after the winter rains.

In March, work began on a grass-roofed chapel, a palisade stockade, and some crude shelters for the soldiers, servants, and the Franciscan community. Lasuén arrived to take charge of the latter, and the padres began their work of converting the Chumash in the area to the Roman Catholic faith.

The mission was constructed in the traditional quadrangle shape, considered best if defense of the community became necessary. The Chumash neophytes lived outside the mission walls in their traditional conical huts. By 1809, Chumash laborers had completed work on an aqueduct system, which carried water to the mission from Salsipuedes Creek to the east.

Economically, the mission community prospered; by 1810, more than 20,000 head of cattle were grazing on nearby hillsides. The Chumash population, however, was in decline, suffering from diseases introduced by the Spanish newcomers for which the natives had no defense. It was a story tragically repeated throughout the mission system in Alta California.

One of the largest earthquakes in California history struck on the morning of December 21, 1812. The Santa Barbara Channel roiled with tidal waves; some narrow canyons were inundated up to a mile or more. Two shock waves virtually destroyed the complex at Mission La Purísima. What was left of the shattered adobe walls dissolved in the heavy rains that followed in the next few days. Flooding from a huge fissure opened by the quake completed the job of destruction.

The padres were determined to rebuild, and selected a spot four miles to the northwest in the narrow La Cañada de los Berros (Canyon of the Watercress). Exactly what was behind the decision to move remains unclear; reportedly, many of the neophytes refused to remain at the old site. Under the direction of Fr. Mariano Payeras, the mission that we know today was constructed. The traditional quadrangle was abandoned in favor of a linear design, making the new La Purísima unique among California missions. With an eye to future earthquakes, some of the adobe walls in this second complex were four-and-a-half-feet thick and many were buttressed with stone.

This mission, too, would fall into ruin, a victim of time’s passage and neglect. In 1824, La Purísima was at the center of a failed Chumash revolt. Secularization of the missions in 1834 dealt another blow. Religious services ceased in 1836, and buildings began to fall into serious disrepair.

The mission was sold in 1845 for a little more than $1,000, and the church, abandoned as a place of worship, was stripped of its roof tiles and timbers. The walls, exposed to the elements, crumbled. Eventually, the building was used as a stable.

Mission La Purísima was rescued in 1934, when the site was deeded to the State of California and a federal Civilian Conservation Corps camp was established. The resulting restoration project became one of the largest of its kind in the nation. Today, to visit La Purísima Mission State Historic Park is to take a step back in time.

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