Old Highway 395, Part 2: Old US 395 (1935-1947) Fairmount Avenue and Murphy Canyon Road in San Diego

The Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala is today designated an ecclesiastical minor basilica by the Roman Catholic Church, one of only four of the California missions to be so honoured as decreed in 1976 by Pope Paul VI. Besides being San Diego's most famous landmark and the one the city is named for, it was California's first mission, officially established 16 July 1769, and despite many centuries lain fallow is once again an active parish in the Diocese of San Diego since 1941. It was founded by Father Junipero Serra, whom we will talk about presently.

In 1826, the end of the mission era in Mexican Alta California came with the passage of the Prevenciónes de Emancipación by Governor José María de Echeandía, and subsequently the Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California in 1833 by the Mexican Congress, which ultimately resulted in the church's forfeiture of the missions and their holdings, and their being offered for sale to citizens and natives. Since the sums demanded could not be raised by the citizenry, possibly intentionally, the mission lands were instead divided into ranchos as rewards for military officers in the campaign against Spain. It was briefly in control of Captain Santiago Argüello in 1846 before being ceded to American control under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and used by the US Army as a base, first by the Mormon Volunteer Batallion in 1847 who added a second floor and performed minor upgrades, and then the Army of the Pacific until 1858 after which it was abandoned.

In 1862, the mission was in ruins upon its restoration to the Roman Catholic Church by proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln. In the 1880s Fr Anthony Ubach was placed in charge of the mission and started a renovation campaign, yielding the modern church on this site and establishing a boarding school for American Indian children in 1886. This school would eventually be run by the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondolet in 1891, which continued to operate for another seventeen years and outlasted Fr Ubach himself, who died in 1907. Restoration work resumed in 1931 to restore the church to its 1813 facade, and in 1941 the church once again became an active parish within the Diocese.

In 1749, Serra joined the missionary College of San Fernando de Mexico and travelled to North America. Initially Serra taught in Mexico City, but later felt the call for mission fields further out and requested a transfer to the Sierra Gorda Indian Mission in what is now central Mexico, spending nine years there and translating the Catholic catechism into the indigenous language. Recalled to Mexico City, his reputation as a missionary and speaker grew and he was appointed superior of the Franciscan group charged with the Indian Missions of Lower California in 1767; Fr Serra was officially designated Fr Presidente when King Carlos III expelled the Jesuits from the holdings of New Spain and gave their missions to the Franciscans in 1768. As we read above, the first of Serra's missions was established in San Diego in 1769; under his presidency, Fr Serra would be involved with the founding of eight more all the way to San Francisco.

Fr Serra's presidency earned him the ire of competing interests, particularly Governor Felipe de Neve, who asserted Serra was not authorized to administer the sacrament of confirmation in 1779 (overturned by the Viceroy in 1781) and later clashed with Serra over the founding of the Presidio in Santa Barbara in 1782, as well as military commander and governor Pedro Fages, whom Serra removed in 1774 only to see him return as Governor after de Neve in 1782. Serra also suffered from an leg injury he sustained in Mexico City riding a mule that left him crippled for life although he patently insisted on walking and refused any remedy.

In 1784, Fr Serra was bitten by a snake in Carmel and died; his grave remains there, under the Mission Carmel sanctuary floor. He is credited with the confirmation of 5,309 believers, most of them occurring during his time in California. In recognition of his work and historical importance, he was beatified by Pope John II in 1988, and monuments to him exist not only here but in Monterey, at the U.S. Capitol, the Mission de San Juan Capistrano (the only remaining building where Serra was known to have performed rites), and Golden Gate Park. Both Interstate 280 in the Bay Area (the Junipero Serra Freeway) and Alameda Padre Serra in Santa Barbara are named for him. A plaque from Petra de Mallorca, Serra's home town, was presented to the City of San Diego in 1969 on its 'bicentennial' and was mounted in the breezeway.

Serra remains a controversial figure to the native American community which has objected to his honour (in particular the beatification, being part of the ascent to sainthood), asserting that the missions were responsible for significant mistreatment of the Indians and Serra therefore by proxy. There is no evidence, however, that Serra was either directly responsible for such treatment or decreed any institutional policy directing it; furthermore, charges that Mission San Diego imprisoned Indians as slaves are almost certainly false, as the mission was so poor that in 1775 then-pastor Fr Lasuen implemented a rotating system where half of the Native Americans lived on the grounds and half remained in their villages, rotating back and forth periodically, a system that would not have been possible if the mission were not open to allow its residents and workers to come and go freely.

US 395 then proceeded due north from that intersection connecting here to the end of Murphy Canyon Road. As we mentioned, this routing is completely obliterated by new construction and Interstate 15, which we are facing near the Friars Rd exit. We turn around and continue north, paralleling the Interstate nearly completely. This routing more or less was that of CA 103, although this alignment was probably not used by CA 103 for long if at all.

Continue to Part 3