Historical Marker · No. 325

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County · California
Erected by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the California Historical Landmarks Advisory Committee, the San Luis Obispo County Historical Society, and the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West, Parlors No. 290 and No. 108, 1966

The bronze calls the belfry and vestibule unique among California missions, and they are. The pair standing here is a rebuild. In the 1880s a modernizing priest sided the adobe in wood, raised a New England steeple and pulled the tower down; restoration begun in 1933 put it back. Built, as the plaque says, by the Chumash Indians living in the area, today yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini, whose name for this place is tiłhini. Burning arrows took the tule roofs in 1776, and the padres answered with fired clay tile.

What the plaque says

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa 1772 A Spanish mission founded by Fray Junípero Serra, O. F. M., first president of the California missions, this was the fifth in a chain of 21 missions stretching from San Diego to Sonoma. Built by the Chumash Indians living in the area, its combination of belfry and vestibule is unique among California missions. In 1846 John C. Frémont and his California Battalion quartered here while engaged in the war with Mexico. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 325 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the California Historical Landmarks Advisory Committee, the San Luis Obispo County Historical Society, and the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West, Parlors No. 290 and No. 108, May 15, 1966.

Where it stands

35.28057, -120.66404 · Directions

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