History
In 1769, Gaspar de Portolá, Gaspar de Portola traveled through California on his way to the Bay of Monterey and discovered the San Luis Obispo area. Expedition diarist and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí wrote that the soldiers called the place "llano de los osos," or the "plain of the bears." Since then, mistranslations of Crespi's diary have called this area "la cañada de los osos" (the canyon of the bears) which has been further mistranslated as the "valley of the bears." Portola followed the same route the following year, on his way to establish the Presidio of Monterey. Missionary president Junípero Serra, traveling by sea, met the Portola party there and founded San Carlos Borremeo, in Monterey, which was moved to Carmel the following year. When food supplies started to dwindle at the mission, Serra remembered the stories of the "valley of the bears." He decided to send a hunting expedition to San Luis Obispo to help feed the Spanish people, Spanish and neophytes (natives that converted to Christianity) in Monterey. The huge success of the hunting expedition caused Junípero Serra to consider building a mission in that area. Upon further investigation, he was convinced that San Luis Obispo would be a perfect site for a mission, based on its surplus of natural resources, good weather and the Chumash (tribe), Chumash, a local Native American tribe who could be used as labor, often by means of enslavement. The mission became the fifth in the mission chain founded by Father Junípero Serra. Serra himself was known for intimidating and controlling native subjects, and once "baptized" the Chumash were not allowed to leave the missions, nor were the generations to follow. Father Serra sent an expedition down south to San Luis Obispo to start building the mission, and on September 1, 1772, a cross was erected near San Luis Obispo Creek and Serra celebrated the first mass. However, following the first mass, Father Junípero Serra left the responsibility of construction to Father Jose Cavaller. Father Cavaller, five soldiers and two neophytes began building what is now Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. Father Cavaller used Chumash labor in building the palisades, which would serve as temporary buildings for the mission. However, Native American tribes set these buildings ablaze in an act of resistance against European colonization. The buildings were thus rebuilt using adobe and tile structures. Beginning in 1794 Mission San Luis Obispo went through extensive building operations. Buildings to accommodate the nearby Native Americans and many improvements to the mission, including storerooms, residences for single women, soldiers barracks and mills were added. The renovation was finally finished after completion of the Quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle in 1819, and celebrated a year later by the arrival of two mission bells from Lima, Peru. The arrival of the bells marked the end of improvements made to Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa for many years. In 1830 Father Luis Gil y Taboada took over the mission, but he died three years later. Then in 1842, the death of Father Ramon Abella marked the last Franciscan at the mission.Rancho period (1834-1849)
In 1845, Governor Pío Pico sold the San Luis Obispo Mission to Captain John Wilson for $510. John C. Frémont and his "California Battalion" used the mission as a base of operations during their war with Mexico in 1846 (see Bear Flag Revolt). The mission fell to ruins during the period of Mexican secularization act of 1833, secularization and the priests who were left would rent out rooms to help support the mission.California statehood (1850 - present)
The Mission San Luís Obispo de Tolosa became the first courthouse and County jail, jail in San Luis Obispo County, California. In 1850, when California became a part of the United States, the first California bishop, Joseph Alemany, petitioned the Government to return some of the mission lands back to the Church. Since then, it has undergone major civic, political and structural changes. In the 1880s, the front portico and bell loft were removed when weakened by an earthquake. An attempt was made to "modernize" the structures, and the colonnades along the front of the convento wing were razed and the Church and residence were covered with wooden clapboard. A New England-style belfry was added. The changes protected the structure from further decay, although significantly altering the facade of the buildings. In the 1930s, during the pastorship of Fr. John Harnett, the buildings underwent extensive restoration to transform them back to early mission style. The 1893 annex was extended in 1948. The mission is still the center of the busy downtown area, and functions as a Roman Catholic parish church for the City of San Luis Obispo in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey in California, Diocese of Monterey. In 1970 the Mission was recognized as the center of the City of San Luis Obispo, with the dedication of Mission Plaza. Mayor Ken Schwartz worked with students from California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly to develop a plan to convince voters to close Monterey Street in front of the mission. Construction of a plaza began in 1969 and the plaza was dedicated in 1970. A statue of Junípero Serra was installed on the grounds facing the public Mission Plaza. The attention to the List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests#Genocide of indigenous peoples, statues of Junípero Serra expanded during the George Floyd protests to include monuments of individuals associated with the controversy over the Genocide_of_indigenous_peoples#Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas, genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas. The statue was moved into storage on the grounds in 2020.Spanish origin
In 1602, the Spanish began to show interest in California and sent Sebastián Vizcaíno, a pearl fisher, to explore the area. Vizcaino traveled the coast naming many of the cities that are important to the California coast today such as San Diego, Santa Barbara and Monterey. Spain finally chose to create Vizcaino's suggested chain of missions when it was proven that California was indeed part of the continent. The goal of creating the chain was given to the Franciscan Order. While Spain had economic motives for establishing a stronghold in California, the Franciscan order of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church also had religious motives. With these factors in mind the missions were created in order to control the coast so that the ships from Spain would remain safe as well as bring the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples to the Catholic faith. Re-education became the method for reaching Spain's religious and economic goals as they strived to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism as well as make them loyal Spanish subjects.See also
* Spanish missions in California * List of Spanish missions in California * USNS Mission San Luis Obispo, ''Mission San Luis Obispo'' – a USNS Mission Buenaventura, ''Mission Buenaventura'' Class Oiler (ship), fleet oiler built during World War II. * City of San Luis Obispo Historic ResourcesReferences
Further reading
* *External links