Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

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Entrance lobby and belfry of the Mission San LuÃÂs Obispo de Tolos
a statue of Junipero Serra stands outside the church

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa was founded on September 1, 1772. It was the fifth mission founded by Father Junipero Serra, located on the central coast of California in what is now the city of San Luis Obispo. The location was chosen because it was halfway between San Diego and Monterey. It was named for Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse.

The Mission church of San Luis Obispo is an unusual design. Instead of the twin towers typical of most mission buildings, there is an entrance tower that incorporates a lobby and the belfry. The main nave is long and narrow, as in a number of other mission churches (for example Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, south of Carmel, California), but there is a secondary nave of almost equal size to the right of the altar, making this the only L-shaped mission church of all the 21 California missions.

In 1776, nearby Chumash Indians attacked the mission, setting it on fire with burning arrows. The roof, made of tule reeds, burned readily, and the fathers came up with the idea of tiling the roof with ceramic tiles, an idea which caught on with all of the other missions.

The Spanish soldiers who kept the mission's safety were successful in killing many of the bears that roamed the area, and thus Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa supplied many of the other missions with bear meat.

In 1845, Governor Pio Pico declared Mission buildings for sale and he sold everything except the church for a total of $510. The mission fell into ruins during the period of secularization and the priests that were left would rent out rooms to help support the mission. The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa became the first courthouse and jail in San Luis Obispo County, California. In 1872, during the 100th anniversary of the mission, improvements began, but real restoration did not begin until 1933. The San Luis Obispo de Tolosa Mission is still the center of the busy downtown area. The mission functions as a Roman Catholic parish church for the city of San Luis Obispo and although many changes have come to the mission, it remains the center of town.

See also: California mission