Mission San José (California) facts for kids

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This article is about Mission San José (disambiguation)|Mission San José. For other uses, see Mission San José (California) (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids
Mission San José
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The mission in 2011
Location in California Show map of California Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	43300 Mission Blvd. Fremont, California 94539
Coordinates	37°31′58″N 121°55′10″W / 37.53278°N 121.91944°W / 37.53278; -121.91944
Name as founded	La Misión del Gloriosísimo Patriarca Señor San José
English translation	The Mission of the Glorious Patriarch Lord Saint Joseph
Patron	Saint Joseph
Founding date	June 11, 1797
Founding priest(s)	Father Fermín Lasuén
Founding Order	Fourteenth
Headquarters of the Alta California Mission System	1824–1827; 1830–1833
Military district	Fourth
Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s)	Bay Miwok Coast Miwok Lake Miwok Patwin Tamyen Yokuts Costeño
Native place name(s)	Oroysom
Baptisms	6,673
Marriages	1,990
Burials	4,800
Secularized	1834
Returned to the Church	1858
Governing body	Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland
Current use	Chapel / Museum

Designated	1971
Reference no.	71000131


California Historical Landmark
Reference no.	334

Website
http://www.missionsanjose.org/

Mission San José is a historic Spanish mission located in Fremont, California. It was started on June 11, 1797, by the Franciscan order. This was the fourteenth Spanish mission built in California. The area around the mission is now called the Mission San José district of Fremont. This district used to be its own town before joining Fremont in 1957.

After Mexico took control, the mission slowly declined. Earthquakes and neglect left most of it in ruins. Over time, many parts of the mission have been rebuilt. The old mission church is still used today as a chapel for Saint Joseph Catholic Church. There is also a visitor center and museum that shares the mission's history.

History of Mission San José
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History of Mission San José

In 1772, explorer Juan Crespí first thought about building a mission in the San Ramon Valley. However, the Native Americans there were not friendly to the Spanish. So, the mission was built further south, in what is now Fremont, California.

Building the Mission

Work on Mission San José began in May 1797. Native American people from Mission Santa Clara helped build it. Franciscan missionaries and Spanish leaders guided the work. The mission was built on hills overlooking the Fremont plain. This area had been home to the Ohlone people for many years. The Ohlone spoke the San Francisco Bay Ohlone language. They lived by hunting and gathering wild plants. Their diet included seeds, roots, berries, acorn flour, small animals, deer, fish, and shellfish.

Many Ohlone people from the mission area had already been baptized at Mission Santa Clara. These people returned home to help start the new Mission San José community. The mission's walls were very thick, about 5 feet. The church itself was 126 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 24 feet high. It was made from adobe (sun-dried bricks) and redwood. The floor and walls were made of tiles.

Growing the Community

By 1800, the mission had 277 new converts, called "neophytes." These included both Ohlone and Bay Miwok speakers. By 1805, most Native Americans from the East Bay area were living at the missions. In 1806, a measles outbreak greatly reduced the mission's population. After this, people from more distant areas joined the mission.

The Yokuts people from the San Joaquin Valley started moving to Mission San José in 1810. Later, Coast Miwok and Patwin people also joined. By 1825, the Delta Yokuts language was the most common among the 1,796 people at the mission. Even more people, the Plains Miwok, came from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. By the 1830s, Plains Miwok was the main native language spoken at the mission.

Father Narciso Durán became the mission's leader in 1806. He stayed until 1833. Father Durán taught the neophytes music. He created a choir and a 30-piece orchestra that became famous. He also served twice as the head of all Franciscan missions.

Mission Life and Prosperity

The mission's first permanent adobe church was officially opened on April 22, 1809. Many valuable gifts were given to the church. These included special clothes, holy items, statues, and paintings. These gifts came from friends of the mission in California and other parts of the Spanish Empire. Many of the old church clothes still exist today. They were made from fabrics and embroideries from places like Europe and Asia.

Mission San José was a busy center for farming and crafts. The location was chosen because it had lots of natural resources. These included water, good soil, stones, and adobe clay for building. Thousands of cattle roamed the mission lands. Large fields of wheat and other crops were grown. The Padres directed all this work. In 1868, the mission produced a lot of wheat, grapes, olives, and figs.

By 1832, the mission owned 12,000 cattle, 13,000 horses, and 12,000 sheep. These animals grazed on mission lands from Oakland to San Jose. Mission San José was one of the richest missions in California. In 1833, an inventory listed a church, living quarters for priests, a guardhouse, a guest house, and a women's dormitory. It also listed thousands of acres of farmland. However, this wealth did not last. In August 1833, the Mexican government passed a law to take control of the missions. This was called the Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California.

Rancho Period (1836–1853)

During this time, the mission lands were slowly given to private landowners. Father José González Rubio stayed at the mission to manage the church. The native people left the mission but struggled to return to their old way of life. Many died from sickness and hunger. The mission buildings, storage areas, and gardens fell apart. The large herds of animals scattered.

In 1845, the Mexican Governor Pío Pico sold the mission property for $12,000. During the 1848 California Gold Rush, a man named H. C. Smith turned the mission into a general store, saloon, and hotel. The town of Mission San José became a busy place for miners. Many important early California families, like the Livermores and Peraltas, had strong ties to the mission.

California Statehood (1850–1980)

The Rancho period ended when California became part of the United States. This happened after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and California becoming a state in 1850. Some of the original adobe supports on the outside of the church were removed. On March 18, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln returned the California missions to the Catholic Church.

On October 21, 1868, a strong earthquake (magnitude 6.3–6.7) hit the area. The earthquake, from the Hayward Fault, badly damaged the mission church. Other mission buildings were also hurt.

After the earthquake, the damaged church was cleared away. A new church, made of wood in a Gothic style, was built right over the original mission floor. In 1890, a Victorian-style rectory (priest's house) was built. It stood where part of the old adobe wing used to be.

The 20th Century and Beyond (1900–present)

The original mission complex had over 100 adobe buildings. In 1915 and 1950, groups like the Native Sons of the Golden West helped save the remaining mission wing. They turned it into a museum surrounded by beautiful flowers and palm trees. In 1956, the town of Mission San José joined with four other towns to become the City of Fremont.

Plans to rebuild the mission church started in 1973. The Victorian rectory was moved to a nearby street. The Gothic-style wooden church was moved to San Mateo. There, an Anglican church group restored it for worship. After much digging and planning, construction on a replica of the 1809 adobe church began in 1982. The work finished, and the church was rededicated on June 11, 1985. The new walls are 4 to 5 feet thick. Old timbers and rawhide strips show how the Padres built without iron nails. They used leather ties instead. The wood used in the new church looks hand-cut, just like the old days.

The rebuilt mission church has a simple but strong look. Its inside is richly decorated, based on old descriptions from the 1830s. The crystal chandeliers are copies of old ones. Two of the original statues are now on the side altars. One is Ecce Homo, a figure of Christ with a scarlet robe and crown of thorns. The other is a painted wooden statue of Saint Bonaventure. The original baptismal font, made of hammered copper, is back in the church. The bell wheel, used by the Ohlones during Mass, has also returned.

The reredos behind the main altar has a painting of Christ and a statue of Saint Joseph. It also has two carved figures: a dove for the Holy Spirit and God the Father at the top. The altar and choir railings are copies of an original piece found in the museum. The Mission cemetery (camp Santo), where many mission pioneers are buried, is next to the church. During the rebuilding, the marble grave marker of Robert Livermore was found in the original church floor. It was fixed and put back in the new church. Many important Spaniards are buried in the church floor, but only Livermore's grave is marked. Thousands of Ohlones are buried in their own cemetery, about a mile away.

Three of the original mission bells were moved from the old adobe church to the wooden church in 1869. They hung there until the 1970s. The fourth bell had been given to a church in Oakland. It was recast but returned to the mission during the bell tower's reconstruction. Now all four bells hang together, ready to ring for special events.

In 1985, the church's restoration was finished. It is considered a very accurate copy of the original church. It also has a hidden steel frame to help it resist earthquakes. Plans for the future include rebuilding more of the Padres' living quarters. Today, St. Joseph's parish manages the mission. This includes the mission building, a modern church for daily use, and a school for grades 1-8.