San Pedro y San Pablo Asistencia

This article is about the mission in California. For the one near Yuma, Arizona, see Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer. For the one in southern Arizona, see Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama.

San Pedro y San Pablo Asistencia

The perimeter of the outpost's foundation is outlined with logs.
Location on the San Francisco Peninsula San Pedro y San Pablo Asistencia (California)
Location	Pacifica, California
Coordinates	37°35′14″N 122°29′36″W
Name as founded	Asistencia de la Misión San Francisco de Asís
English translation	Sub-Mission of the Mission San Francisco de Asís
Patron	Saint Peter and Saint Paul
Founding date	1786
Military district	Fourth
Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s)	Ohlone Costanoan
Native place name(s)	Pruristac
Governing body	County of San Mateo
Current use	Museum
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Designated	1976
Part of	Sánchez Adobe
Reference no.	#NPS–76000525
California Historical Landmark
Designated	1947
Part of	Sánchez Adobe
Reference no.	#391

The San Pedro y San Pablo Asistencia is an asistencia or "sub-mission" to Mission San Francisco de Asís in the San Pedro Valley in Pacifica, California. Established in 1786 at the Ohlone village of Pruristac, the site is located within the bounds of the Rancho San Pedro (home to the Sánchez Adobe).

History

Within the first year a chapel, granary, tack room, and three other rooms had been constructed, using native labor. In 1788 two more rooms were added. In 1789 a second granary was built, quarters for the mayordomo, and quarters for the missionaries were built. Also, a covered passageway which temporarily served as a kitchen. Crops of wheat and beans were planted and limestone was mined at nearby Mori Point in quantities to provide for the food and construction needs of the parent mission. At its peak the asistencia consisted of a three-wing main structure surrounding a central plaza. Corn, peas, barley, asparagus, and rosemary would, in time also be cultivated, along with grape vineyards and groves of peach and quince trees. Due to a significant decline in the native population due to several infectious diseases including syphilis (Stanger 1963), the population dropped from 300 in 1790 to 25 in 1792 at which point the facility was closed and used mainly as an outpost to graze cattle after 1790.

A plaque in Sanchez Adobe Park depicts the former Asistencia's floor plan.

After secularization of the missions in 1834, Juan Alvarado, the Mexican Governor of California, granted the lands of the 8,926-acre (36.12 km²) Rancho San Pedro to Francisco Sanchez in 1839. Included were all of the buildings of the Asistencia. Sanchez retained ownership of the property after California was ceded to the United States in 1848. In 1894, roof tiles were salvaged from the property and installed on the Southern Pacific Railroad depot located in Burlingame, California (the first permanent structure constructed in the Mission Revival Style). Today, little remains of the original installation.

References

• Jones, Terry L. and Kathryn A. Klar (eds.) (2007). California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity. Altimira Press, Landham, MD. ISBN 978-0-7591-0872-1. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
• Paddison, Joshua, ed. (1999). A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush. Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA. ISBN 1-890771-13-9.
• "San Mateo Environmental Services Agency" (PDF). Sánchez Adobe Historical Site: Draft Master Plan. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 31, 2005. Retrieved July 26, 2006.
• "Spanish Colonization in San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties". Archived from the original on October 31, 2004. Retrieved July 25, 2006.

See also

• Mission San Francisco de Asís
• List of Spanish missions in California

37.58714°N 122.49365°W / 37.58714; -122.49365