Mission Santa Cruz

Mission Santa Cruz (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 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

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).