California missions spotlight: San Diego de Alcalá, where the mission system all began

San Diego de Alcalá, San Diego

First mission

1769

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On July 16, 1769, Franciscan Fathers Junípero Serra, Francisco Palóu and Fernando Parron began the Alta California mission system by planting a cross and building near the mouth of the San Diego River. Five years later, they moved the mission six miles inland, farther from the presidio where Spanish soldiers were based. In November 1775, a rebel neophyte organized perhaps 800 men from nine native villages to destroy the mission, killing the pastor, Father Luis Jayme, and two other Spanish men. Check the floor of the mission sanctuary and you’ll find inscribed in marble “Padre Luis Jayme, California’s Martyr.” (He’s buried beneath the altar.) Population peaked at 1,829 in 1824. The complex later served as a U.S. Army barracks and later as an Indian school. (There’s a striking old black-and-white school photo in the museum.) By the 1930s, when major reconstruction took place, not much more than the church façade remained from the 1820s.

Nearby: Old Town San Diego State Historic Park (4002 Wallace St., San Diego; www.oldtownsandiego.org) is full of historic buildings and reenactments of local life in the early 19th century. At Presidio Park (neighboring Old Town at 2811 Jackson St., San Diego), you can see the commanding hilltop where Serra initially placed the San Diego mission. The site now houses a mission-style Junípero Serra Museum (www.sandiegohistory.org), built in 1928-29.

Info: 10818 San Diego Mission Road, San Diego; (619) 281-8449, www.missionsandiego.com. Driving distance from Los Angeles City Hall: 123 miles southeast.

From the archives:

In 1914, The Times covered the Landmarks Club’s plan to restore the crumbling Mission San Diego de Alcalá in honor of the mission’s 145^th anniversary.

In 1989, The Times reported on a San Diego reburial ceremony at a mission site where a parish hall had been planned.

In 1997, a Times reporter began a journey to all 21 missions with a visit to San Diego.

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