Site information:

Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, at the corner of School St and Adobe St, has the only remaining original building of the mission.

The building at the corner of School and Emmett Sts, shown in the photo, is not original, but is at the site of the original mission.

36.977742, -122.028071

Plaque information:

State plaque in plaza Park, NE corner of Emmet and Mission Sts, Santa Cruz

36.977947,-122.029842

Plaque text:

Site of Santa Cruz Mission

Misión La Exaltación de la Santa Cruz, the 12th Franciscan mission, was consecrated by Father Fermín Lasuen in August 1791. In 1793 the adobe church was built where the Holy Cross Catholic Church is now located. The mission was damaged by several earthquakes and finally collapsed in 1857. Plaza Park is located at the center of the mission complex which contained 32 buildings at the time of its secularization in 1834; the last building remains on School Street.

Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Monterey Viejo Chapter 1846 of E Clampus Vitus and the Santa Cruz Historical Society, October 2, 1982.

Registered 8/8/1939