Mission San Fernando Rey de España

There was a village here called Achoicominga, and the mission went up on top of it on September 8, 1797. The Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, the coalition of lineages the mission drew from across four valleys, says plainly that its ancestors were enslaved here. Very little on the grounds is original. The Sylmar earthquake brought the church down in 1971 and the one standing now was finished in 1974. The convento came through — the largest adobe building in California, raised in stages between 1808 and 1822, and the only one the mission itself built.

What the plaque says

Founded in 1797 by Father Fermin Francisco Lasuen. We honor those men of faith, courage and vision who guided the founding of the mission and also those who have preserved it for posterity.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Santa Monica Pier — 18 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.
• Colorado Street Bridge — 19 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 24 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.

More markers nearby

• Brand Park (Memory Garden) — steps away
• Rómulo Pico Adobe (Ranchito Rómulo) — 0.4 mi
• San Fernando Cemetery — 3.3 mi
• The Cascades — 3.9 mi