Mission Santa Cruz

Mission Santa Cruz
Mission Santa Cruz
The Mission Santa Cruz chapel replica
Location130 Emmett St
Santa Cruz, California 95060
Coordinates36°58′41″N 122°1′46″W / 36.97806°N 122.02944°W / 36.97806; -122.02944
Name as foundedLa Misión de la Exaltación de la Santa Cruz
English translationThe Mission of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
PatronThe Exaltation of the Cross[1]
Nickname(s)"The Hard-luck Mission"[2]
Founding dateAugust 28, 1791[3]
Founding priest(s)Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén[4]
Founding OrderTwelfth[1]
Military districtFourth[5]
Native tribe(s)
Spanish name(s)
Awaswas, Mutsun, Yokuts
Costeño
Native place name(s)Aulintak
Baptisms2,765[6]
Marriages860[6]
Burials2,120[6]
Secularized1834[1]
Returned to the Church1859
Governing bodyCalifornia Department of Parks and Recreation; Diocese of Monterey
Current useSanta Cruz Mission Adobe museum; Parish chapel
Reference no.#75000484[7]
Reference no.#342
Website
www.parks.ca.gov?page_id=548 Edit this at Wikidata
Mission Hill Area Historic District
Mission Santa Cruz is located in California
Mission Santa Cruz
LocationMission Street
Coordinates36°58′39″N 122°1′43″W / 36.97750°N 122.02861°W / 36.97750; -122.02861
Area38 acres (15 ha)
Architectural styleSpanish Colonial, Stick-Eastlake-Queen AnneVictorian
NRHP reference No.76000530[7]
Added to NRHPMay 17, 1976

Mission Santa Cruz (Spanish: La Misión de la Exaltación de la Santa Cruz, lit. The Mission of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross) is a replica Spanish Californian mission in Santa Cruz, California. Located on the San Lorenzo River floodplain[8] below what would later be named Mission Hill, the mission was founded on August 28, 1791, by Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, the successor to Father Junipero Serra. The mission was dedicated that same year but, in the winter rainy season, the river overflowed its banks and flooded the mission compound. The mission was then relocated to the top of Mission Hill.

After earthquake damage and years of neglect, this second mission fell into disrepair, and much of it, though not all, was removed to accommodate the construction of the Holy Cross Church in 1889. A scaled-down replica was constructed in the 1930s, which today functions as a historical monument and chapel for the parish.

Near the replica chapel stands the one surviving Mission Santa Cruz Mission building, an adobe structure built between 1822 and 1824. This adobe building served as housing for Indigenous families who, after being converted to Catholicism, lived and worked at the Mission. It is the oldest surviving structure in Santa Cruz County and the best preserved Native American residence at any of the Alta California missions. It is now part of Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park.

  1. ^ a b c Krell, p. 219
  2. ^ Ruscin, p. 105
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference yenne112 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference ruscin196 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Forbes, p. 202
  6. ^ a b c Engelhardt, Z. Missions and Missionaries of California, Volume 4, page 529
  7. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  8. ^ Mayer, Melanie J. (2019). The Mission Santa Cruz Mystery. Santa Cruz, California: Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. p. 85-87. ISBN 978-0-9721165-2-7.