Site of Mission Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz County · High and Emmet Streets, Santa Cruz · location approximate

September 25, 1791, the formal ceremony for the founding of Mission La Exaltación de la Santa Cruz was celebrated. Soon the establishment was found to be too near the river, and in the move to higher ground only the garden was left on the lower level. The first stone of Mission Santa Cruz was laid February 27, 1793, and the completed structure was dedicated in the spring of 1794. The mission was completely destroyed by the earthquakes of 1840 and 1857. In 1931 a replica of the original mission was built on Emmet Street.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

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