Historical Marker · No. 327
Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores)
San Francisco, San Francisco County · California
Erected by California State Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, 1975
Behind the altarpiece is an older painting almost nobody has seen. The church was dedicated in August 1791 and the wall at the head of the sanctuary was painted for it, most likely by the Native people who built the adobe: bands of pattern and two hearts, one pierced by nails, one by a sword. In 1796 a carved reredos from Mexico went up about two feet in front of it. In 2004 Eric Blind and Ben Wood, helped by the Ohlone curator Andrew Galvan, lowered a camera through an attic trap door and photographed it.
What the plaque says
Misión San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) This edifice the construction of which was started in 1788, was dedicated August 2, 1791. An adobe structure in use since that time, it is the oldest building in San Francisco. Original adobe brick walls and roof tiles are still in place. Plaque placed by the California State Society Daughters of the American Revolution Mrs. Everett E. Jones, State Regent March 12, 1975 U.S.A. Bicentennial Dedication La Misión San Francisco de Asís Mission Dolores San Francisco Historical Monument Number 1 La Paz y Bien—Peace and Goodness Founded in 1776 by Fray Francisco Palóu, OFM and built by people of the Ohlone nation in the village of Chutchui 1788–1791. To them we pay honor as the founders and first builders of this community and church. This plaque commemorates the 225th anniversary of the establishment of the Mission and Presidio of San Francisco de Asís. Dedicated by: The Native Sons of the Golden West—June 2001 William E. Hargis, Grand President
Where it stands
37.76418, -122.42666 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Muir Beach Overlook — 11 miA cliff edge on Highway 1, and the concrete dugouts where two-man crews watched the sea after Pearl Harbor.
- Muir Woods National Monument — 12 miA redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.
- Earthquake Trail — 28 miA short loop along the San Andreas, where a broken fence shows how far Point Reyes moved in under a minute in 1906.
- Kule Loklo — 28 miA Coast Miwok village built in the 1970s to honour a people its builders were told had died out. They had not.