Mission Santa Inés

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Mission Santa Inés

Mission Santa Inés in 2005.
Location	Solvang, California
Name as Founded	La Misión de Nuestra Santa Inés, Virgen y Mártir [1]
Translation	The Mission of Saint Agnes of Rome, Virgin and Martyr
Namesake	Saint Agnes of Rome
Founding Date	September 17, 1804 [2]
Founding Priest(s)	Father Estévan Tapís
Founding Order	Nineteenth
Military District	Second
Native Tribe(s) Spanish Name(s)	Inéseño
Owner	Roman Catholic Church
Current Use	Parish Church / Museum
Coordinates	34°35′26″N, 120°08′25″
National Historic Landmark	#NPS-99000630
California Historical Landmark	#305
Web Site	http://www.missionsantaines.org

Mission Santa Inés (sometimes spelled Santa Ynes) was founded on September 17, 1804 by Father Estévan Tapís, who had succeeded Father Fermín Lasuén as President of the California mission chain. The Mission site was chosen as a midway point between Mission Santa Barbara and Mission La Purísima Concepción, and was designed to relieve overcrowding at those two missions and to serve the Indians living east of the Coast Range. On February 21, 1824 a soldier beat a young Chumash Indian and sparked a revolt. Some of the Indians went to get the Indians from Missions Santa Barbara and La Purísima to help in the fight. When the fighting was over, the Indians themselves put out the fire that had started at the Mission. Many of the Indians left to join other tribes in the mountains; only a few Indians remained at the Mission.

The Danish town of Solvang was built up around the Mission proper in the early 1900s. It was through the efforts of Father Alexander Buckler in 1904 that reconstruction of the Mission was undertaken, though major restoration was not possible until 1947 when the Hearst Foundation donated money to pay the for project. The restoration continues to this day, and the Capuchin Franciscan Fathers take excellent care of the Mission. Today the Mission is an active parish; there is also a museum, gift shop and information center.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Leffingwell, p. 71
2. ^ Yenne, p. 164

[edit] References

• Leffingwell, Randy (2005). California Missions and Presidios: The History & Beauty of the Spanish Missions. Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN. ISBN 0-89658-492-5.
• Yenne, Bill (2004). The Missions of California. Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, CA. ISBN 1-59223-319-8.

[edit] See also

• Spanish missions in California
• USNS Mission Santa Ynez (AO-134) — a Mission Buenaventura Class fleet oiler built during World War II.

[edit] External links

• Elevation & Site Layout sketches of the Mission proper

Mission Santa Inés and its original four-bell campanile ("bell tower"), circa 1900.

The capilla (chapel) and bell tower (campanile) at Mission Santa Inés as they appeared in 1987. The original bell structure (erected in 1817) collapsed in 1911 and was reconstructed out of reinforced concrete in 1948. The campanile has been compared by architectural historian Rexford Newcomb to the one that originally abutted the façade of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel.