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.
Early Years of the San Buenaventura Mission
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. San Buenaventura Mission in the early 1800s
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.
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 then Mojaves and two soldiers were killed.
By 1816, San Buenaventura Mission was at its peak, with 1,328 Indians living there.
Secularization at San Buenaventura Mission
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, 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.
San Buenaventura Mission in the 20th Century
San Buenaventura Mission was restored in 1957, and it is used today as a parish church. Three Fathers are buried in the church: Father Vincente de Maria, Father Jose Senan and Father Francisco Suner.
