Mission San Buenaventura

Mission Ventura was the ninth one built in California, founded March 31, 1782, by Father Junipero Serra. The name Mission Sam Buenaventura is in honor of Saint Bonaventure.

Interesting Facts

Mission San Buenaventura was the sixth and last mission personally dedicated by Father Serra.

In the church garden there are two Norfolk Island pines that are said to be more than 100 years old, planted by a sailing captain who wanted to grow wood for ship's masts.

1782 - 1800

San Buenaventura Mission was founded on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1782, by Father Junipero Serra, who was assisted by Father Pedro Benito Cambon. The service took place on the beach of the Santa Barbara Channel, in the same place Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo had claimed California for Spain in 1732.

San Buenaventura Mission was originally planned to be California's third mission, located halfway between San Diego and Carmel. Father Serra couldn't get military protection from Spanish Governor de Neve, and by the time it was built, San Buenaventura Missions was the ninth mission instead. Governor de Neve was following orders from the King of Spain, who thought it was easier to secure California by giving it to settlers than by building missions. Father Serra had a hard time convincing de Neve to let him build more. Finally, they met and agreed to build two new ones, San Buenaventura Mission and Santa Barbara.

Father Serra left Father Cambon in charge, and San Buenaventura Mission began to grow and flourish. The local Chumash Indians, who the Spanish called Channel Indians, were smart, energetic, and willing to work for payment in beads or clothing. With their help, the first buildings at San Buenaventura Mission went up quickly.

The first church burned down in 1792, and it was replaced by a new one that was started in 1795 and finished in 1809.
 

With the Indians' help, the Fathers built a seven-mile-long aqueduct that watered orchards and gardens so extensive that explorer George Vancouver, who visited San Buenaventura Mission in 1793, said they were the finest he had ever seen.

1800's

The missionaries were driven from their church twice in the early 1800s. In 1812, an earthquake and tidal wave drove everyone inland for about three months. In 1818, the French pirate Bouchard was raiding along the coast, and the Fathers and Indians took valuable objects and fled into the hills, staying there for almost a month. Fortunately, the pirate was stopped at Santa Barbara and never reached the mission.

In 1819, the San Buenaventura Mission guard tried to keep a visiting group of Mojave Indians from socializing with the local Indians. The confrontation turned violent, and the Mojaves and two soldiers were killed.
 

By 1816, San Buenaventura Mission was at its peak, with 1,328 Indians living there.

Secularization

The first administrator after secularization, Rafael Gonzales, made the process more gradual than it was elsewhere.

1845, he rented the San Buenaventura Mission buildings to Don Jose Arnaz and Narciso Botello, but later Governor Pio Pico illegally sold them to Arnaz. After California became a state, Bishop Joseph Alemany asked the United States government to return the San Buenaventura Mission buildings, orchard, cemetery and vineyard to the church, which Abraham Lincoln did in 1862.
 

Ventura began to grow when the railroad arrived in 1887, and San Buenaventura Mission found itself surrounded by the growing town. It was never abandoned and the buildings stayed standing.