San Gabriel Mission
by William S.

The fourth of the twenty-one missions in California was founded nine miles east of present day Los Angeles, in the town now known as Montebello. It was founded on September 8, 1771. The founding fathers were Pedro Cambon, Angel de la Somera and Junipero Serra. The way that the San Gabriel Mission was built was more unique than the other missions in California.

This unique mission was built by Father Cruzado. The mission is made out of stone, concrete and brick that go from the windows to the top of the mission. What made the mission different from the other California Missions is that it looked like a fortress. It had long narrow windows that no other missions had. The mission is made up of a lot of rooms including the carpenter shops and the sleeping quarters of the fathers.

The San Gabriel Mission was known as "The Pride of the Missions" because it provided a lot of food and supplies to other missions and California. This mission was able to do this because it was in a great agricultural area and that provided a lot of food through the years. The mission's crops died in 1775 because of a flood, so they had to move the mission five miles away to its present location. The San Gabriel Mission had 25,000 baptisms between 1771 and 1834, which was the most of any other mission. In 1812 the three bells of the mission were damaged because of an earthquake. The bells were rebuilt but with six bells this time and that is how the mission look~ to this day. There were no wars or battles fought around the San Gabriel Mission and that is what helped it to become the wealthiest mission in California.

The local Indian tribes were very important to the success of the San Gabriel Mission. The Shoshone tribes also known as Gabrielinos lived at the mission. The Gabrielinos had the jobs of farming, weaving, growing crops, helping to raise the animals, and helped build the mission. The Indians lived on and near the mission and without the Indians help the mission would not have been the wealthiest mission in California.

The padres of the mission had different duties that included building the mission, keep the mission running smoothly, farming, and watching over the Indians to make sure the mission was successful. But the main goal of the San Gabriel Mission fathers was to teach people about Catholicism. Of course the padres lived at the mission as there were a lot of duties that they had to take care of at the mISSIon.

The San Gabriel Mission was able to be the model for all other missions due to the hard work of the padres, Indians, and the location of the mission. With the area able to produce crops year round they were able to supply other missions and settlers help when it was needed. The city of Los Angeles was founded by padres that left from the San Gabriel Mission and discovered Los Angeles. After years of being a mission it is now a museum and a church and it is owned by the Roman Catholic Church of Los Angeles.

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