{"nrhp_refnum":"78000775","name":"Mission de la Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santisima Site","other_names":["Site of Mission Vieja de la Purisima"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Bounded by Locust Ave., city limits, E and G Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lompoc","county":"Santa Barbara County","state":"CA","lat":34.63335147400005,"lon":-120.45666997710128,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-05-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Archaeological site of the original Mission La Purisima Concepcion (Mission Vieja), founded in 1787 and now largely covered by residential streets and homes in Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California.","why_significant":"The mission was the eleventh of twenty-one Spanish missions on the California coast and marked the first permanent introduction of European culture to the Santa Ynez valley. Its destruction in a single day by earthquake and mudflow in 1812 likely sealed a wealth of remains under fallen adobe. Comparison with the second mission site could help build a chronological sequence for the whole California mission system.","narrative":"Beneath the streets and homes of southern Lompoc lie the remains of the first La Purisima mission, founded by the Franciscan Father-President Lasuen on December 8, 1787. It was the eleventh of twenty-one Spanish missions on the California coast. On December 21, 1812, earthquakes and floods destroyed the complex in a single day, and the mission was rebuilt about five miles away at the present La Purisima State Historic Park. Residential development now covers roughly 90 percent of the original site. Visible traces include the main chapel entrance, part of an adobe wall at the chapel's southwest corner, sections of an aqueduct, and tile floors exposed in a railroad cut. Surveys in the 1970s recovered roof tiles, floor tiles, majolica sherds and Indian artifacts. The site was listed because buried remains may show differences in artifacts and construction between the first and second mission sites, helping establish a chronology for California's mission system.","period_of_significance":"Dec. 8, 1787 - Dec. 21, 1812","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Spanish Colonial Mission","criteria":[],"status_note":"Ruins; about 90 percent of the original site is covered by residential development, with a few vacant lots in the Cloister section appearing undisturbed.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.349243-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000775.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000775/45250e564d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000775/45250e564d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jsweida","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_Purisima_Mission_-_Lompoc,_CA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jsweida</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_Purisima_Mission_-_Lompoc,_CA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861606","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Pur%C3%ADsima_Mission","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6464680"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/santa-barbara-county/mission-de-la-purisima-concepcion-de-maria-santisima-site-78000775/"}