Then and Now

Founded in 1817 by Padre Vincente Sarria as an "asistencia" or adjunct to Mission Dolores. Mission San Rafael was originally designated a sanitarium for native converts suffering from San Francisco's generally damper climate. Here, under sunnier skies and the medical care of Padre Luis Gil, many of the "neophytes" were restored to good health. With the addition of local converts, the asistencia soon grew from a few hundred to over 1000 inhabitants. Under the impressive tutelage of Padre Juan Amoro, native women were taught a range of domestic skills while the men were trained as farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, cowboys, and boat builders. So successful were they in making the asistencia a thriving self sufficient community, that in 1822, San Rafael was raised to full mission status. In 1834, however, the Mexican government, far less committed to the missions as was Spain, decided to secularize them. Following secularization, the Church maintained some presence in San Rafael, but the mission's subsequent history is one of abandonment and gradual decline. At times, its facilities were used by civic and other groups. In 1846 General John Fremont used the mission as headquarters in his battles to establish the Bear Flag Republic. The mission buildings were ultimately destroyed to make room for the growing pueblo of San Rafael. The Church, nevertheless, maintained its presence here. In 1847 a priest was once again living at the mission; in 1861 a small chapel was built near the ruins of the original one.

This map shows Mission San Rafael in the year 1831. It is based on three maps of the ruined mission. The maps do not always agree but historians think this is most likely how it appeared. The buildings do not face the street we see today, but in 1831, they looked down the main road of town.

Looking at the map we see some things that are typical of Spanish colonial churches and things that are not. It is typical for a church to have a place for people to live on one side of the church and a cemetery on the other side. Unlike most of the missions there never was a courtyard or plaza.

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Show me all markers in:  San Rafael, CA  |  Marin County  |  94901  |  California  |  United States of America

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