Title: Lompoc’s Mission Vieja

Year: 1996

Artist: Vicki Andersen, Lompoc, CA

Location: Behind the Lompoc Museum, 200 South H St.

Description: Mission La Concepcion Purisima de Maria Santisima (Mission of the Immaculate Conception of Most Holy Mary) was founded by Father Presidente Ferman de Lausuen on Dec. 8, 1787, at what is now Locust Ave. and F. St. It was the eleventh of 21 Franciscan Missions in California. During the Mission’s early years, several thousand Chumash Indians were baptized into the Catholic Church, over 100 large and small adobe buildings were built: a water system developed, crops planted and as many as 19,000 head of Mission livestock roamed the valley. The year of 1812, also known as El Ano de Los Temblores, brought disaster to the Mission. On Dec. 21 of that fateful year, a powerful earthquake followed by rains and flooding destroyed most of the Mission buildings. Because of frequent flooding, the Fathers decided to rebuild the Mission at its present site known as “Canyon of the Watercress”. The ruins of the original Mission can be seen in South Lompoc, not far from the Museum where this mural is displayed.