In 1781, Father Serra, the founder of the first mission, strongly desired a mission in beautiful Santa Barbara. But Governor Filipe De Neve had no desire at all to build mission Santa Barbara. In fact, he decided that he was going to delay and hopefully stop the plan of building the mission. Sadly, Father Serra died during the delay but Father Lasuen carried on his goal and on Dec. 4, 1786 Mission Santa Barbara was built. Mission Santa Barbara is named after Saint Barbara. According to legend when she became a Christian against her father's will, he imprisoned her and finally cut her head off with his own sword. He was immediately struck dead by lightning.

Mission Santa Barbara has a Roman design that was copied from a book in the Mission library. It's walls are six feet thick with nine square feet buttresses and decorated with garlands and angels. The mission has two matching bell towers, each 87 ft. tall and 20 square feet. One was built in 1820 and the other in 1851. In 1833 there were eight bells, this number later increased to eleven. Mission Santa Barbara has a 162 ft. long, 27 ft. wide and 42 ft. high church. It is built with limestone block of yellow native sandstone, held together with lime made from seashells. The statues on the roof represent faith, hope, and charity. The statue of Saint Barbara was added in 1927.

Mission Santa Barbara has been standing for 223 years. Here are some main events in it's history. In 1782, the governor at that time approved of building a presidio and a chapel but not just yet a mission. The planned founder, Father Serra, didn't live to see the mission for he died in 1784, before the mission was built. In 1786, Father Serra had been dead almost a year and a half when the mission was successfully and finally built. In 1812, an earthquake damaged the church and destroyed the first adobe building that was built in 1789. In 1829, the mission and presidio were attacked by soldiers from Monterey Bay who were rebelling against governor Jose' Marfa Encheandia. The governor's troops successfully defended the mission.

The rooms in the mission that were once living quarters, are now a museum of life in the early days of the mission. Mission Santa Barbara has stayed under the Management of Franciscan Order of Catholic Church. It has escaped vandalism because the buildings are still in use. The light on the altar is said  to have burned continuously since it was lighted by Father Lasuen in 1789.

This report has taught me a lot about mission Santa Barbara and about mission life. What really interested me about mission Santa Barbara is it's nickname, "Queen of the Missions" and it's the only mission with two bell towers. Also that Father Serra really, really wanted a mission in Santa Barbara and it had to be expanded four times because it was so popular. Because lots of Chumash Natives and other tribes came to it to learn Spanish culture. Also that unfortunately the mission was struck by series or earthquakes and the church had survived them all but was nearly destroyed in an earthquake in 1912. One of the bell towers, was destroyed in 1912  along with the second floor.