Mission Santa Inés (sometimes spelled Santa Ynez) was a
Spanish mission in present-day
Solvang, California, United States, and named after
St. Agnes of Rome. Founded on September 17, 1804, by Father
Estévan Tapís of the
Franciscan order, 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 north of the
Coast Range.
Sunset magazine editors wrote of the Hidden Gem of the Missions: “With its simple, straightforward exterior, Santa Inés fits one’s impression of how a ripe old mission should look.”[10]
Most of the original church was destroyed on December 21, 1812, in an earthquake centered near
Santa Barbara that damaged or destroyed several California missions. The quake also severely damaged other mission buildings, but the complex was not abandoned. A new church, constructed with 5-to-6-foot-thick (1.5 to 1.8 m) walls and great pine beams brought from nearby
Figueroa Mountain, was dedicated on July 4, 1817.
A water-powered
grist mill was built in 1819, about half a mile from the church.
In 1821, a
fulling mill was added, designed by newly arrived American immigrant
Joseph John Chapman.[12] He oversaw the building of a grist mill for
Mission San Gabriel, and he prepared timbers for the construction of the first church in
Los Angeles. The mill he built near San Gabriel is now a museum. Chapman was baptized at
Mission Basilica San Buenaventura in 1822, and that same year married Guadalupe Ortega of Santa Barbara, with whom he had five children. In 1824, Chapman bought land in Los Angeles and developed a vineyard, but still continued to perform odd jobs at the missions.
On February 21, 1824, a soldier beat a young
Chumash native. Two separate Chumash accounts, written in the early 1900s, state that around the time the tribesman was beaten a Spanish page overheard Santa Inés priests talking about having the natives of the mission killed the next summer when they arrived. The page was found out by the priests after having alerted the natives, and his tongue and feet were cut off before he was burned to death. Upon learning of this news, the natives sought the help of the other Santa Barbara Channel Mission natives and a week later the
Chumash revolt of 1824 was sparked.[13] When the fighting was over, the natives 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 Chumash remained at the mission.
In 1833, the missions in California began to be
secularized, however, it was not until 1835 that the Santa Inés Mission became secularized by the Mexican government. Secularization involved replacing the padres as managers of the missions with government appointed overseers. In this case, the existing Spanish Franciscans were replaced by Mexican Franciscans who were restricted to provide only for the spiritual needs of the Chumash. The Chumash were mistreated under this new policy and began to leave the mission, returning to their villages or working at settlers’ ranches. As a result, much of their land was given to settlers in land grants.[14]
In 1843, California's Mexican governor
Micheltorena granted 34,499 acres (139.61 km2) of
Santa Ynez Valley land, called
Rancho Cañada de los Pinos, to the College of Our Lady of Refuge, the first seminary in California. Established at the mission by
Francisco García Diego y Moreno, the first bishop of California, the college was abandoned in 1881. By then the mission buildings were disintegrating.
Highwayman
Jack Powers briefly took over Mission Santa Inés and the adjacent
Rancho San Marcos in 1853, intending to rustle the cattle belonging to rancher
Nicolas A. Den. Powers was defeated in a bloodless armed confrontation. He was not ousted from the Santa Barbara area until 1855.
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 for the project. The restoration continues by the
CapuchinFranciscan Fathers.
Indigenous people
The Alta California mission system was founded by
Catholic priests of the Franciscan order to
evangelize the
Native Americans. The missionaries introduced European fruits, vegetables, cattle, horses, ranching, and technology. The natives at Santa Inés were used as laborers and the mission's agriculture caused great ecological changes in the environment. Archaeobotanical analysis displayed that the agricultural efforts at Santa Inés are specifically responsible for integrating pea, squash, potato, cabbage, olive, grape, pear, apricot, hemp, peach, carrot, etc. into the environment. It was not long after the placement of the missions that European plants and weeds proliferated throughout California's coast.[15]
Many Natives of missions in the Southwestern region of what is presently U.S. territory and North Mexico fell victim to Euro-Asiatic diseases to which they had no immunity; such as those of the
Pimería Alta and
Baja California missions. However, demographic studies have shown that the Santa Barbara Channel Missions (Santa Inés, Santa Barbara, San Buenaventura, and La Purísima Concepción) and many other Alta California Missions do not exactly follow this trend. Though the missions were not free of epidemics, the censuses taken in the 1800s display that women and children had a much higher mortality rate than men. Diseases are not partial to gender or age, which meant that something outside of disease had a drastic effect on the Indian population in the missions.
Researchers discovered that the population decline was focused by the unique conditions of the Alta California missions: very tight, overcrowded living arrangements which fostered the spread of diseases. These conditions were met as a part of the program the missions made to culturally and religiously change the Natives. For instance, to control the sexual intercourse of the women, the Franciscans would lock up all the single women together at night in small, damp rooms.[16][17][18]
Restoration of the Mission
The Santa Ines Mission is one of the oldest surviving structures in the state of California and requires constant efforts to repair and restore. Over the years, many men and women have labored in order to preserve, maintain, and restore the historical landmark. Efforts in the past have included restoration of buildings that are made out of adobe (dried mud) to ensure structural stability. The structures made out of adobe are particularly susceptible to the elements, soil shifts, and earthquakes. Without proper conservation, the Santa Ines Mission walls will crack and the artwork will fade.[14]
Parishioners are largely responsible for the efforts put forth in restoring Mission Santa Ines, although, non-parishioners have contributed as well. The parish does not receive state or federal funding, instead they get their funds through museum entrance fees, fundraisers, and donations from individuals and foundations. Individual contributions and grants from private foundations such as the California Mission Foundation has also significantly helped restoration efforts in the past.[14]
Gallery
Mission Santa Inés in about 1912. The mission's original three-bell campanario, erected in 1817, collapsed in a storm in 1911 and was subsequently replaced by this concrete four-bell version, which also had openings on the side. This tower was replaced in 1948 to restore the original three-niched appearance. It has been compared by architectural historian
Rexford Newcomb to the one that originally abutted the façade of
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel.
Santa Ines marker
Santa Ines 1982
Mexican soldiers advancing toward La Purísima Concepción Mission during the Chumash revolt of 1824. Painting by Alexander Harmer.
^Hudson, Travis (Summer 1980). "The Chumash Revolt of 1824: Another Native Account From the Notes of John P. Harrington". Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology. 2 (1): 123–126.
JSTOR27825004.
^Allen, Rebecca (2010). "Alta California Missions and the Pre-1849 Transformation of Coastal Lands". Historical Archaeology. 44 (3): 69–80.
doi:
10.1007/BF03376804.
S2CID161106660.
^Jackson, Robert H. (1992). "Patterns of Demographic Change in the Alta California Missions: The Case of Santa Ines". California History. 71 (3): 362–369.
doi:
10.2307/25158649.
JSTOR25158649.
^Jackson, Robert H. (1990). "The Population of the Santa Barbara Channel Missions (Alta California), 1813-1832". Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology. 12: 268–274.
Krell, Dorothy, ed. (1979). The California Missions: A Pictorial History. Sunset Publishing Corporation, Menlo Park, CA.
ISBN978-0-376-05172-1.
Jones, Terry L.; Klar, Kathryn A., eds. (2007). California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity. Altimira Press, Landham, MD.
ISBN978-0-7591-0872-1.
Leffingwell, Randy (2005). California Missions and Presidios: The History & Beauty of the Spanish Missions. Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN.
ISBN978-0-89658-492-1.