Historic Landmarks of San Francisco

Mission San Francisco de Asis, or Mission Dolores as it is more commonly called, was founded June 27, 1776, the sixth Franciscan mission to be established in Alta California. Father Francesco Palóu celebrated the first Mass. The present church building was begun April 25, 1782, and dedicated April 3, 1791. Dolores is relatively simple and unprepossessing, even by California mission standards. Its four-inch thick adobe walls measure 22 feet by 114 feet. Manzanita fastenings were used in place of nails. The roof beams are redwood. The architecture has been described as being in the late Baroque ecclesiastical style of Mexico, with intimations of Classical Revival. The interior was decorated by native artists. The Mexican bells are dated 1792 and 1797.

Despite its hopeful beginnings, Mission Dolores was not a successful enterprise. The climate, often cold and foggy, was not conducive to the raising of crops. Many Ohlone neophytes brought to the Mission sickened and died, with measles being a major cause of fatalities. Those who survived were tempted to run away, as many did. Those conditions led to the founding of Missions San Rafael Archangel and San Francisco Solano, farther north and in more salubrious locations.

Several early San Franciscans are buried at the Mission. Interred within the church itself are Jose Joaquin Moraga, founder of the Presidio, members of the Noa family, and William Leidesdorff, a West Indian who became a prominent merchant. In the tiny cemetery behind the Mission are the graves of Luis Antonio Arguello, Governor of Alta California from 1822-25, Francisco de Haro, Yerba Buena's first alcalde (mayor), and James Casey and Charles Cora, victims of the vigilantes of 1856.

Mission Dolores was renovated and reconstructed in 1920 under the supervision of Willis Polk, San Francisco's celebrated architect. The building is still owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco and is a Registered National Historic Landmark.

The Mission is located on the west side of Dolores Street between 16th and 17th Streets. A bronze plaque dedicated March 12, 1975, by the California State Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution may be found on a buttress in the south side of the church, facing the cemetery. An adjacent buttress displays a plaque to Father Palóu placed October 4, 1938, by the California Historical Society.