Mission La Purísima Concepción

:"Other missions bearing the name La Purísima Concepción include
Mission Puerto de Purísima Concepción near Yuma, Arizona,
Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña in San Antonio, Texas,
Misión La Purísima Concepción de Cadegomó in Baja California Sur, and
Misión La Purísima Concepción de Caborca, in Caborca, Sonora."

Infobox Missions


caption=Mission La Purísima Concepción, 2006
name=Mission La Purísima Concepción
location= 2295 Purisima Road, Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California
originalname="La Misión de La Purísima Concepción de Santísima Virgen María" [Leffingwell, p. 79]
translation=The Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Sainted Virgin Mary
namesake=The Immaculate Conception of the Sainted Virgin Mary
nickname="The Linear Mission" [Ruscin, p. 97]
founded=December 8 1787 [Yenne, p. 104]
foundedby=Father Fermín Lasuén [Ruscin, p. 196]
foundingorder=Eleventh
headquarters=1815–1819 [Yenne, p. 186]
militarydistrict=Second [Forbes, p. 202]
nativetribe=Chumash
"Purisimeño"
placename="Laxshakupi", "'Amuwu" [Ruscin, p. 195]
baptisms=3,255
marriages=1,029
burials=2,609 Krell, p. 315: as of December 31, 1832; information adapted from Engelhardt's "Missions and Missionaries of California".]
secularized=1834 Krell, p. 202]
returned=1874 [Krell, p. 202: The property was subsequently sold in 1874 due to its dilapidated state, and acquired by the State of California in 1935.]
owner=California Department of Parks and Recreation
currentuse=Museum
NHL= [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/CA/Santa+Barbara/state.html #NPS-70000147]
NRHP=1970
CHL= [http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21521 #340]
website=http://www.lapurisimamission.org

Mission La Purísima Concepción, the second mission site to bear the name, was founded on the "Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin" (December 8), 1787. The present site is located east of the City of Lompoc, California between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. The City of Lompoc was so small that the Roman Catholic Church made an exception to the rule that no mission is to be established within seven miles from any city (the original site of La Purísima was only one mile from the tiny town). It was moved four miles east of the town in 1812 after the [http://www.data.scec.org/chrono_index/wrightwd.html#SBAR Santa Barbara Earthquake] severely damaged the Mission buildings on December 21st of that year. Currently a National Historic Landmarked park, it is the only example in California of a "complete" mission complex.

Precontact

The current prevailing theory postulates that Paleo-Indians entered the Americas from Asia via a land bridge called "Beringia" that connected eastern Siberia with present-day Alaska (when sea levels were significantly lower, due to widespread glaciation) between about 15,000 to 35,000 years ago. The remains of Arlington Springs Man on Santa Rosa Island are among the traces of a very early habitation in California, dated to the last ice age (Wisconsin glaciation) about 13,000 years ago. The first humans are therefore thought to have made their homes among the southern valleys of California's coastal mountain ranges some 10,000 to 12,000 years ago; the earliest of these people are known only from archaeological evidence. [Paddison, p. 333: The first undisputable archaeological evidence of human presence in California dates back to "circa" 8,000 BCE.] The cultural impacts resulting from climactic changes and other natural events during this broad expanse of time were negligible; conversely, European contact was a momentous event, which profoundly affected California's native peoples. [Jones and Klar 2005, p. 53: "Understanding how and when humans first settled California is intimately linked to the initial colonization of the Americas"."]

History

In 1824, there was a major Indian revolt at the Mission. Spain had stopped funding the missions after Mexico won its independence, and there were many soldiers at the Mission who were no longer being paid and took out their frustrations on the local Chumash Indians. A soldier had beat an Indian at Mission Santa Inés and a revolt spread to Mission La Purísima, where the Indians took over the Mission for one month until more soldiers arrived from Monterey; after a three-hour battle, the Indians lost. Many of the Indians left the Mission soon thereafter; those who did not fight and were hiding in the mountains during the revolt came back to the Mission, but there were not enough of them to keep the Mission going as it once had.

Following Mexican secularization in 1843, the grounds were abandoned; in 1934, only nine of the buildings remained. The Civilian Conservation Corps pledged to restore the Mission if enough land could given back to make the Mission into a historical monument. The Church and the Union Oil Company then donated enough land for the restoration. The buildings were all reinforced and reconstructed (including many small structures and the original water system) to such an extent that La Purísima is considered to be the only example in California of a "complete" mission complex. The dedication day for the newly-restored Mission La Purísima Concepción was December 7, 1941, the same day the United States entered World War II.

The grounds are part of a historic park and are well cared for by the State of California Department of Parks. The Mission is no longer used as a parish church; it has a visitors center and a museum on the grounds in the old infirmary buildings.

Other historic designations

* National Register of Historic Places #NPS-78000775 — original Mission La Purísima Concepción site
* California Historical Landmark #928 — original Mission La Purísima Concepción site

Notes

References

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ee also

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

External links

* [http://www.lapurisimamission.org La Purisima Mission's Home Page]
* [http://www.mymission.org/images/lapurisima.gifElevation & Site Layout sketches of the Mission proper]
* [http://imdb.com/title/tt0228597/ The Missions of California] - History and restoration of California's 11th mission
* [http://www.lapurisimamission.org La Purisima Mission's Home Page]
* [http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/browse/azBrowse/Mission+La+Purisima+Concepcion Early photographs, sketches, land surveys of Mission La Purisima Concepcion] , via Calisphere, California Digital Library
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/ca/ Early History of the California Coast, a National Park Service "Discover Our Shared Heritage" Travel Itinerary]