San Francisco's story as a city is usually dated to 1776, and the clearest physical link to that year still stands on 16th Street. The old adobe chapel of Misión San Francisco de Asís, better known as Mission Dolores, is the oldest intact building in the city. It marked its 250th anniversary this month.
How 1776 unfolded
An expedition led north by Juan Bautista de Anza brought settlers, soldiers and Franciscan missionaries to the peninsula. The party arrived on June 27, 1776. Two days later, on June 29, Father Francisco Palóu said Mass near the Laguna de los Dolores. The Presidio was formally established on Sept. 17, and the mission was formally dedicated on Oct. 9. It was the sixth mission in the California chain started by Junípero Serra. The California Missions Foundation points out that this happened in the same year as the Declaration of Independence.
Before the mission
The peninsula is the ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone, including the Yelamu people. The mission era profoundly transformed Native communities. The Mission Dolores cemetery is the resting place of many Ohlone, Miwok and other California Indians.
The anniversary
On Oct. 9, leaders from Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Latter-day Saint and Ohlone communities joined Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone for a thanksgiving prayer service at Mission Dolores Basilica, next to the old chapel. Mission Dolores curator Andrew Galvan, who is Ohlone, opened with a short history of the mission. A concelebrated Mass followed on Oct. 10. The anniversary year also includes a museum exhibition that opened in May. The mission is at 3321 16th St.