Editing Mission San Francisco de Asís (section)

==History==

=== 1700 to 1800 ===
{{See also|Architecture of the California missions}}

The site of the future Mission San Francisco was scouted by the Spanish missionary [[Pedro Font]] in March 1776 during a visit to the [[San Francisco Bay Area|Bay Area]] by the Spanish explorer [[Juan Bautista de Anza]].<ref name="MsandMsCali">{{cite book |author=Engelhardt |first=Zephyrin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R7ugWyl16tEC&q=Pedro+font+missions&pg=PA174 |title=The Missions and Missionaries of California, Volume II: Upper California |year=1912 |pages=181}}</ref> The Spanish missionaries named the new mission San Francisco de Asís, in honor of [[Francis of Assisi]], founder of the [[Franciscan Order]]. It became commonly known as Mission Dolores, after the nearby creek, ''Arroyo de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores ([[Our Lady of Sorrows Creek]])''<ref name="nancy">{{cite book |last=Olmsted |first=Nancy |title=Vanished Waters: A History of San Francisco's Mission Bay |date=1986 |publisher=Mission Creek Conservancy |isbn=0961149213 |location=San Francisco}}</ref>

On October 9, 1776, the missionaries dedicated a small chapel in present-day San Francisco as the Mission San Francisco. According to some sources, the chapel stood near the present intersection of Camp and Albion Streets''.''<ref name="young117">Young, p. 117</ref><ref>Kenneth Robert Zinns, ''The Urban Tradition Patterns of Building in San Francisco's Inner Mission'' (Berkeley: the University of California Dept. of Architecture, 1984), 6; repeated in e.g. Alastair Worden and Randy Leffingwell, ''California Missions & Presidios'' (Beverly MA: Voyageur Press), 173; {{ISBN|1610603648}}</ref> Members of the local [[Ramaytush]] Ohlone tribe are recorded as entering the mission in 1785.<ref>{{cite web |author=Ramayrush Ohlone Association |title=Ramaytush Territory |url=https://www.ramaytush.org/ramaytush-territory.html |access-date=2023-08-06 |website=www.ramayrush.org}}</ref> They would later provide the labor to build the new mission church.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Mission Dolores--Early History of the California Coast--A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary |url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/ca/ca36.htm |access-date=2023-11-21 |website=www.nps.gov}}</ref>

The construction of adobe walls for the Mission Dolores church began in 1788, with the Ohlone laborers manufacturing 36,000 bricks. By 1790, the walls were completed, plastered, and [[whitewash|whitewashed.]]The missionary [[Junípero Serra]] is recorded as having celebrated a mass at the chapel while it was still under construction.

The Mission Dolores adobe church was finished in 1791. The new church had adobe walls that were four feet thick. The roof beams were [[redwood]] and the ceiling displayed traditional Ohlone designs, painted in vegetable dyes.<ref name=":1" /> The mission complex at this time included a convent and facilities for agriculture and manufacturing.

=== 1800 to 1848 ===
The early 19th century saw the greatest period of activity at Mission San Francisco:

<blockquote>At its peak in 1810–1820, the average Indian population at Pueblo Dolores was about 1,100 people.  In 1810 the Mission owned 11,000 sheep, 11,000 cows, and thousands of horses, goats, pigs, and mules. Its ranching and farming operations extended as far south as [[San Mateo, California|San Mateo]] and east to [[Alameda, Calif|Alameda]]. Horses were corralled on [[Potrero Hill]], and the milking sheds for the cows were located along Dolores Creek at what is today [[Mission High School (San Francisco)|Mission High School]]. Twenty looms were kept in operation to process wool into cloth. The circumference of the Mission's holdings was said to have been about 125 miles.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Cleary |first=Guire |date=January 31, 2003 |title=Mission Dolores links San Francisco with its 18th century roots |url=http://catholic-sf.org/013103.html |access-date=November 20, 2023 |website=Catholic San Francisco}}</ref></blockquote>

In 1817, the Franciscans established the [[Mission San Rafael Arcángel]] in [[San Rafael, California]] as an [[Asistencias|a''sistencia'']] to act as a hospital for the Mission San Francisco de Asís. San Rafael became an independent mission in 1822.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ruscin |first=Terry |title=Mission Memoirs |publisher=Sunbelt Publications |year=1999 |isbn=0-932653-30-8 |location=San Diego, California}}</ref>

With the end of the [[Mexican War of Independence]] in 1821, the newly independent Mexico took control of [[Alta California]].  Relations were strained between the new Mexican Government and the Franciscan overseers of the California missions. Supplies were scarce and over 5,000 Native Americans had died from disease and other causes at the Mission San Francisco.  The Mexican Government decided to free the Native Americans who were under mission guardianship and give them mission lands.

New regulations under the [[Mexican secularization act of 1833|Mexican Secularization Act of 1833]] forced the missions in 1834 to start selling their vast commercial properties.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dúran |first=Narcisco |title=Secularization of the Missions |url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=540 |date=2021 |access-date=26 October 2017 |website=Digitalhistory.uh.edu}}</ref> In practical terms, this meant that each mission could only own its church, its priests residence and small plots of land surrounding the church for gardens.  The Mission San Francisco sold most of its property in 1836.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yenne |first=Bill |title=The Missions of California |publisher=Thunder Bay Press |year=2004 |isbn=1-59223-319-8 |location=San Diego, California |pages=18–19}}</ref>  By 1842, only eight Native Americans were still residing there.<ref name=":0" />

=== 1848 to 1900 ===
[[File: Mission of Los Dolores. 1856.jpg|thumb|Mission Dolores adobe chapel (1856)|304x304px]]
[[Image: San Francisco de Asis - Dolores circa 1910 William Amos Haines.jpg|thumb|Mission Dolores adobe chapel {{circa|1910}}. The 1876 brick church, severely damaged in the 1906 earthquake, is partially visible.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The California Missions: A Pictorial History |publisher=Sunset Publishing Company |year=1979 |editor-last=Krell |editor-first=Dorothy |location=Menlo Park, California |pages=148}}</ref>|303x303px]]
[[Image: Mission Delores.jpg|thumb|Mission Dolores adobe chapel (2007)|386x386px]]
After the [[Mexican–American War|Mexican-American War]] ended in 1848, the Mission San Francisco and the rest of Alta California became part of the United States. With the end of Mexican authority, the rules governing the California missions became defunct.

In 1848, the [[California Gold Rush]] brought a surge of American immigrants and commercial activity to the San Francisco area. In the 1850s, the city constructed two [[plank road]]s from the downtown area to the Mission District. The area soon became a popular resort and entertainment center.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first= |title=The California Missions |publisher=Lane Book Company. |year=1964 |location=Menlo Park, California |pages=129}}</ref> The Franciscans sold or leased some of the remaining mission land to developers who built saloons and gambling halls. By 1857, the Franciscans had turned control of the Mission San Francisco to the Archdiocese of San Francisco.<ref name="young117" />

During the late 19th century, the archdiocese converted part of the old convent into a two-story wooden wing for use as a seminary and priests' residence. The rest of the convent building became the  Mansion House, a tavern.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Paul C |title=The California Missions |publisher=Lane Book Company. |year=1964 |location=Menlo Park, California |pages=130}}</ref> By 1876, the archdiocese had razed the Mansion House, replacing it with a large [[Gothic Revival]] brick church to accommodate more congregants than the adobe church

The archdiocese also covered the adobe church with [[Clapboard (architecture)|clapboard siding]] for both cosmetic and protective reasons. The siding was removed in a later renovation.

=== 1900 to the present ===
The [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]] destroyed the brick church and damaged the adobe building. To prevent the huge fire sparked by the earthquake from engulfing the two buildings, firefighters blew up the convent and School of Notre Dame building across the street. In 1913, the archdiocese began constructing the Mission Dolores Church to replace the destroyed brick church. The architect [[Willis Polk]] restored the adobe building in 1917.<ref name=":1" />

The construction of the new Mission Dolores Church experienced delays due to the American entry into [[World War I]] in 1917. It was finally completed in 1918. The church was remodeled in 1926, with the archdiocese adding [[churrigueresque]] ornamentation. These were inspired by exhibits at the 1915 [[Panama–California Exposition]] in San Diego, California.

In 1952, Archbishop [[John J. Mitty]] announced that [[Pope Pius XII]] had elevated Mission Dolores to the status of a [[minor basilica]]. It became the first minor basilica west of the [[Mississippi River]] and the fifth one in the United States.<ref name=":2" />

Today, the church constructed in 1918 is referred to as the Mission Dolores Basilica while the 1791 adobe chapel is called the Mission Dolores.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Powers |first=Mary |date=September 30, 2021 |title=Mission Dolores Basilica window depicts our patron saint |url=https://www.sfarchdiocese.org/mission-dolores-basilica-window-depicts-our-patron-saint/ |access-date=November 20, 2023 |website=Archdiocese of San Francisco}}</ref> The mission complex also includes a historic cemetery.

===Other historic designations===
* [[San Francisco Designated Landmark]] #1 – City and County of San Francisco<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.friendsof1800.org/LANDMARKS/landmarks.html |title=San Francisco Landmarks |first=Ted |last=Whipple |access-date=2025-04-29}}</ref>
* [[California Historical Landmark]] #327-1 – site of original Mission Dolores chapel and Dolores Lagoon<ref name="California">{{cite web |url=http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21482 |title=San Francisco |author=CA State Parks |website=State of California |access-date=2025-04-29}}</ref>
* California Historical Landmark #393 – "The Hospice," an outpost of Mission Dolores founded in 1800 in [[San Mateo, California]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21520 |title=San Mateo |author=CA State Parks |website=State of California |access-date=2025-04-29}}</ref>
* California Historical Landmark #784 – [[El Camino Real (California)|El Camino Real]] (the northernmost point visited by Serra)<ref name="California"/>