Junípero Serra

After a 900-mile trek from Loreto with dwindling food supplies, the expedition reached San Diego on July 1, 1769, reuniting land and sea parties.

On July 16, 1769, Serra founded the mission in honor of Didacus of Alcalá in a simple shelter on Presidio Hill serving as a temporary church.

Serra founded the Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo on June 3, 1770, inside the presidio enclosure with a formal ceremony.

The mission was planned for 1770 as the third mission, but the founding was delayed by the low availability of needed military escorts.

On Easter morning, March 31, 1782, Junípero Serra raised the Cross at the beach of the Santa Barbara Channel, founding the mission.

The founding made San Buenaventura the ninth Spanish mission in Alta California and the last established by Junípero Serra.

Facing starvation at Monterey, Pedro Fages led a hunting expedition to la Cañada de los Osos to obtain food for the presidio and mission.

José Cavaller, five soldiers, and two neophytes began building Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, which later became the town of San Luis Obispo.

The mission and later town were named after Saint Louis, bishop of Toulouse, France, a saint popular within the Franciscan order.

On September 1, 1772, Junípero Serra celebrated the first Mass with a cross erected near San Luis Obispo Creek, founding the mission.