La Purisima Mission Vieja

Image Slideshow

1. 1883 Henry Chapman Ford etching of ruins of original mission 2. Ruins of the first mission about 1880 3. Remains of church wall about 1890 4. The fissures of the 1812 earthquake still remain today

La Purisima Mission was established in 1787 in what is now known as Lompoc, California. The mission grew and prospered at this site for 25 years. On December 21, 1812 an earthquake followed by heavy downpours of rain devastated the mission. The buildings were damaged beyond repair. The Padres were granted permission to relocate the mission to "La Canada de los Berros".

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Credit for historical photographs:
1. Henry Chapman Ford etching of old Mission La Purisima, 1883, a part of the Robert B. Honeyman, Jr. Collection of Early Californian and Western American Pictorial Material
4. Mission Vieja photographed by Ironmonger and a part of the Alice Iola Hare Collection of the California Heritage Collection, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley