|Beginnings of the Mission| |Mission La Purisima was the 11th
mission to be founded out of the 21 Missions. The Mission was
dedicated on December 8, 1787 by Father Lasuen and named Mission
La Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santisima (The Immaculate
Conception of Mary the Most Pure.)| |Location and Geography|
|The Mission is located on the southern end of the central coast
inland from the ocean, near what is now the town of Lompoc. The
members of the Mission worked hard to build a permanent church.
The first adobe church was finished in 1789. The church was used
for three years but the Mission's population was growing
quickly. By 1798 mission records showed that there were 920
neophytes living at the Mission and just 6 years later the
population was listed at 1520. A series of large earthquakes
struck Southern California in 1812 and the Mission was
destroyed. The Mission was rebuilt on another site four miles
further north in a canyon named La Canada de los Berros, or The
Canyon of Watercress. The fathers rebuil