Hi my name is Roberto Mejia. I’m going to tell you about Mission San Jose. Mission San Jose is the number 14 of the 21 missions, which were built along the California coast. I’m going to give you more important information in the next paragraphs about Mission San Jose.

      Mission San Jose was built along a road called El Camino Real, 15 miles north east of San Jose on the east side of San Francisco. They chose this place so visitors could travel along the coast, have places to stay. There was good soil and water to plant crops and ships could stop there and trade with the Spaniards. Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen founded Mission San Jose in June 11, 1797. The name of Mission San Jose was named after Saint Joseph, the father of Jesus. One of the main tribes of Indians that live there was the Ohlones. They hunted deers, antelope, ducks and geese, so they could eat. The mission was build by adobe bricks and red wood. A compound was constructed as a large four-sided building with an inner patio in the middle. The church was always the tallest and the biggest part of the mission. The size of the church was 126 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 24 feet high. The walls were 4 to 5 feet thick.

      Mission San Jose was well known for its orchestra and choir. Fray Duran taught the Ohlones Indians to read music, sing harmony and play instruments. He put together a church choir and an orchestra. The Ohlones first built their own musical instruments until the New Spain later supplied them with other instruments. Mission San Jose was one of the strongest missions, because they produce goods to trade, sell and for them to eat. The goods were vineyards, which give wine for the priest to use and sell. They also plant grains crops of wheat and corn. They raised cattle and sheep. It was very important to the survival of the people living in the mission. The biggest problem that Mission San Jose had, was in 1805 when the Spanish come over from Europe and brought with them diseases like measles, smallpox, pneumonia, and mumps.  Many Indians died from these diseases and the population went down.

In 1845 Pio Pico sold the Mexican governor Mission San Jose for 12,000.00. The governor of USA said the sale was illegal and the mission was return to Catholic Church in 1858. In October 21, 1868 an earthquake destroyed the mission church.  They replaced the church by a wooden one.

     Mission San Jose looks better today then before, because in the 1980s they remodel it again. The 4 originals bells were return to the mission when they restored the mission. The Mission today is a small museum. In the museum are thing that the people of the mission once use. There is a cemetery in the mission where many people from those days are buried.

      I hope you like my report about Mission San Jose and hope that you learn a little about the history about Mission San Jose. I recommend that when you have a chance to visit one of the 21 missions you visit Mission San Jose.