San Juan Bautista State Historic Park is a

California state park The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...

encompassing the historic center of

San Juan Bautista, California San Juan Bautista (Spanish for " Saint John the Baptist") is a city in San Benito County, in the U.S. state of California. The population was 2,089 as of the 2020 census. San Juan Bautista was founded in 1797 by the Spanish under Fermín de Las ...

, United States. It preserves a significant concentration of buildings dating to California's period of Spanish and Mexican control. It includes the

Mission San Juan Bautista Mission San Juan Bautista is a Spanish mission in San Juan Bautista, San Benito County, California. Founded on June 24, 1797 by Fermín Lasuén of the Franciscan order, the mission was the fifteenth of the Spanish missions established in presen ...

, the

Jose Castro House Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galile ...

, and several other buildings facing the historic plaza. It became a state park in 1933 and was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1970. and It is also a site on the

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail is a trail extending from Nogales on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, through the California desert and coastal areas in Southern California and the Central Coast region to San Francisco. ...

History and features

was founded in 1797, as the 15th Spanish mission in what is now California. It was well sited for its intended purpose, the conversion of area Native Americans to Roman Catholicism, and was highly successful. The present mission church, still an active Catholic parish, was built in 1803–12, and is one of the largest of California's mission churches. Across the plaza from the mission is the Plaza Hotel, which was originally built in 1814 as a barracks for Spanish soldiers. Its second story was added in 1858, giving it a Monterey Colonial flavor. Following the independence of Mexico, the Spanish missions were secularized in 1833, and the village around the mission became a

pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

. On the west side of the plaza stands the adobe of José Antonio Castro, one of the most important figures in California's Mexican period between 1835 and 1846. Built 1839–41, it is architecturally an important example of the Monterey Colonial style, and now functions as a museum. Also nearby is the

Juan de Anza House The Juan de Anza House (Spanish: Casa Juan de Anza), also known as the Casa de Anza ( English: Anza House), is a historic adobe house in San Juan Bautista, California. Built around 1830, Casa de Anza is a well-preserved example of residential c ...

, an adobe whose construction predates the rise of the Monterey Colonial style.

References

External links

San Juan Bautista State Historic ParkEarly History of the California Coast, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
The following buildings in the district are documented in the

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

: * * * * * * * * {{authority control San Juan Bautista, California History of San Benito County, California The Californias National Historic Landmarks in California National Historic Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area Historic American Buildings Survey in California Historic American Landscapes Survey in California Museums in San Benito County, California Open-air museums in California History museums in California Protected areas established in 1933 National Register of Historic Places in San Benito County, California Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in California State parks of California Historic districts in California National Historic Landmark Districts

History and features

See also

References

External links