On Mission Boulevard in Fremont, a whitewashed adobe church looks 200 years old. Most of it was built in the 1980s.
The founding
Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén founded Mission San José on June 11, 1797, as the 14th of the 21 Spanish missions in Alta California, according to the mission. The mission says the site was the Ohlone village of Oroysom. Wikipedia says much of the founding population was Ohlone people from the area who had been baptized at Mission Santa Clara and came home to form the new community.
The quake and the rebuild
On Oct. 21, 1868, a magnitude 6.3 to 6.7 earthquake on the Hayward Fault, which runs through the mission grounds, shattered the church walls, Wikipedia says. Plans to rebuild began in 1973. After archaeological excavations, construction of a replica of the 1809 adobe church started in 1982, and it was rededicated on June 11, 1985. Its walls are 4 to 5 feet thick.
Visiting
The mission says its grounds are open free of charge seven days a week, and docent-led tours are offered. The church is still an active Catholic church, part of St. Joseph Parish in the Diocese of Oakland, and the mission says it receives no ongoing government support.