Qualla: Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana

Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana: Introduction

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Geographer at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5. A hundred-pound bell unearthed in an orange grove near the mission in 1920 bore an inscription in Russian: cast in January 1796 on Kodiak Island, Alaska, by blessing of Archimandrite Joaseph. How a Russian Orthodox bell from Alaska ended up buried near a Spanish Catholic mission in Southern California remains a mystery. Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana has accumulated such mysteries since its founding on September 8, 1797, the seventeenth of twenty-one Franciscan missions established in Alta California. Ten children were baptized on that first day. The mission would grow to hold over a thousand neophytes, produce 2,000 gallons of wine annually, and give its name to an entire valley.

Image: The original uploader was Geographer at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 2.5

Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana: Before the Mission Walls

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cbl62 (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. The Spanish Portola expedition passed through the San Fernando Valley in 1769 - the first Europeans to see inland California. On August 7, they camped at a watering place near where the mission would later rise. Fray Juan Crespi noted in his diary that they were at the foot of th...

Image: Cbl62 (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana: The Growing Mission

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Geographer at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5. The first church was a modest 22-foot adobe structure. Within two years it proved too small, replaced by a larger building that served five more years before construction began on a third church in 1804. Spanish carpenter Manuel Gutierrez is considered its architect. By 1819, the...

Image: The original uploader was Geographer at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 2.5

Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana: Secularization and Decay

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Geographer at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5. The Mexican War of Independence and conflict with France in Spain cut off support for the missions by the 1810s. Soldiers' wages went unpaid, forcing the missions to feed and supply the presidios. In 1825, Fray Ibarra declared that the presidio was a curse rather than a help to t...

Image: The original uploader was Geographer at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 2.5

Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana: From Hog Farm to Historic Site

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Geographer at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5. The mission buildings saw many uses after secularization. The Butterfield Stage Lines operated Lopez Station just north of the mission. The Porter Land and Water Company used the buildings as a warehouse. In 1896, the quadrangle became a hog farm. Settlers stripped beams, tiles, ...

Image: The original uploader was Geographer at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 2.5

Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana: The First California Gold

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jonathunder, Public domain. Six years before the famous 1848 discovery at Sutter's Mill, a brother of the mission mayordomo found gold in the foothills near San Fernando. The place was named Placerita Canyon to commemorate the discovery, though only small quantities of gold were ever found there. The 1971 S...

Image: Jonathunder | Public domain