My mission's name is San Fernando Rey and it is mission #17. It is 25 miles Northwest of Los Angles, on property already settled by Spanish rancher, Francisco Reyes mayor of Los Angeles. It was built in September in 1797. It was founded by Father Fermin Lausen Franciscan missionaries and successor to Junipero Serra.

It has a plain two-story square tower wedged between the church. The church interior is brightly painted in native designs, 166 feet long, 35 feet wide and made of adobe tile roof. The church is plain but there is a mission compound that is a quadrangle of buildings around a patio. Most imposing building is The Long Building or Mission House.

Vandals dug up the church floor for gold when the Gold Rush happened in 1849. It served as the headquarters for Colonel John .C. Freemont when his army attacked California in 1847. It was also a stop for stagecoach line.

It is still standing. I have not visited the mission. It is now home of the oldest libraries in California with a collection of books collected by the padres. It is sometimes used for movie location shootings.

People thought that the padres buried a fortune so they went crazy to find it. What really stands out is when it was rebuilt again in 1941 after vandals in 1880 stole the roof tiles which allowed rain to melt the adobe bricks.