Sonoma Mission

Father Jose Altimira came from Barcelona, Spain, to California in 1819, to help at Mission Dolores. The ambitious young man soon tired of the routine work at the established mission, and he devised a plan to move it north to warmer spot. Instead of asking the church, he went to the Mexican Governor Don Luis Arguello. Altimira proposed moving both the San Francisco and San Rafael missions to the new location, an action which Arguello thought would help keep the Russians out of northern California.

Altimira traveled north to scout a spot, and founded Sonoma Mission on July 4, 1823. He returned to San Francisco and took soldiers and supplies back to the new location. However, other Fathers in the church opposed his plan, and when the Church finally approved the new mission, they insisted that the two remaining ones stay in place.

Sonoma Mission in the 1820s-1830s

Father Altimira was determined to prove that he was right about the new mission, and it had a good start. He brought almost 700 Indians from San Francisco, and the new vineyards, planted in the midst of what is now the Sonoma Valley wine area, flourished. However, Altimira was a cruel man who flogged and imprisoned the natives in an attempt to "civilize" them, and they soon revolted. A large group attacked the mission. They stole and burned, and soon afterward Father Altimira fled to San Rafael. After working at San Buenaventura, he returned to Spain in 1828.

Father Buenaventura Fortuni, who had worked at San Jose, replaced Altimira, and he rebuilt the mission and its buildings, and regained the Indian's trust. 1832 was the mission's most successful year, when Fortuni recorded 127 baptisms, 34 marriages and 70 deaths, and a total of 996 neophytes. The mission also had 6,000 sheep and goats, 900 horses, 13 mules, 50 pigs and 3,500 cattle. The fields produced wheat, barley, beans, peas and corn.

In 1833, the Zacatecan Franciscans from Mexico took over the Sonoma Mission, and Father Jose Gutierrez was placed in charge. Father Gutierrez also beat the Indians in an attempt to control them, an action that eventually helped General Vallejo gain control.

Secularization

The mission buildings were barely finished when Sonoma Mission was secularized on November 3 1834. General Mariano Vallejo, Commandant of the San Francisco Presidio, took control. He was supposed to distribute the property to the Indians, but he took it for himself instead. Vallejo founded a town, now the town of Sonoma, around the mission. The old chapel was used as a parish church until 1880, and was eventually sold to a man who built a saloon in front of it and used the chapel as a storehouse.

Sonoma Mission in the 20th Century

The Historic Landmarks League bought the mission property in 1903, and they finished restoring the mission in 1926, when they turned it over to the State of California. After further restoration, the mission is part of the Sonoma Mission State Historic Park.