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that the Viceroy ordered the establishment of two missions. The first mission, Mission Dolores, would be located near the presidio to help secure the harbor against foreigners or attack. The second mission, Mission Santa Clara would be established with families to help create a stable colony. Governor Gaspar de Portola's party, while searching for Monterey Bay, discovered the harbor, but it took two expeditions before the magnitude of the bay was appreciated. Mission San Francisco de Asis was located near the river Arroyo de los Dolores. The river was so named because it was founded on Our Lady of Sorrows feast day. Because of its location, the mission is also known as Mission Dolores, which in Spanish means sorrows.
Located not for its fertile fields, but for military strategy, it was plagued by the cold and fog. Thus this mission was never successful or rich. Many of the Indians who did join the mission became ill or died. Eventually, Mission San Rafael had to be established across the bay, as a sanctuary for Indians to recuperate. The native Indians were Coastoan and were mostly fishermen. They were frightened and distrustful initially of the missionaries and all the activities, so that conversion came slowly. Because of the severe weather conditions, mission life would not be very popular with San Francisco Indians, so that runaways would be a continual problem, since they could escape to the Contra Costa shore on the other side of the bay and hide.
The original church, actually the second one built in 1782, is still standing, having withstood even the 1906 earthquake that destroyed a newer church built next door. The next door church was rebuilt and remodeled over time. The mission church, with its Moorish and Corinthian style architecture, has been carefully preserved. It required the least restoration and still has the original bells. The mission was secularized in 1834 and the property sold in 1845. The United States government returned the land to the church in 1857. After secularization, the mission remained neglected and some of the structures were leased out for business uses. It was located in a quiet part of town until the Gold Rush would bring a population boom with all its notorious revelry. Eventually the City of San Francisco sprang up around it. The mission church is now located on Dolores Street. In 1952, the church was deemed a basilica.
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