Most of the original church was destroyed on December 21, 1812, in an earthquake centered near
Santa Barbara that damaged or destroyed several California missions. The quake also severely damaged other mission buildings, but the complex was not abandoned. A new church, constructed with walls and great pine beams brought from nearby
Figueroa Mountain, was dedicated on July 4, 1817. A water-powered
grist mill was built in 1819, about half a mile from the church. In 1821, a
fulling mill was added, designed by newly arrived American immigrant
Joseph John Chapman. He oversaw the building of a grist mill for
Mission San Gabriel, and he prepared timbers for the construction of the first church in
Los Angeles. The mill he built near San Gabriel is now a museum. Chapman was baptized at
Mission Basilica San Buenaventura in 1822, and that same year married Guadalupe Ortega of Santa Barbara, with whom he had five children. In 1824, Chapman bought land in Los Angeles and developed a vineyard, but still continued to perform odd jobs at the missions. On February 21, 1824, a soldier beat a young
Chumash native. Two separate Chumash accounts, written in the early 1900s, state that around the time the tribesman was beaten a Spanish page overheard Santa Inés priests talking about having the natives of the mission killed the next summer when they arrived. The page was found out by the priests after having alerted the natives, and his tongue and feet were cut off before he was burned to death. Upon learning of this news, the natives sought the help of the other Santa Barbara Channel Mission natives and a week later the
Chumash revolt of 1824 was sparked. When the fighting was over, the natives themselves put out the fire that had started at the mission. Many of the Indians left to join other tribes in the mountains; only a few Chumash remained at the mission. In 1833, the missions in California began to be
secularized, however, it was not until 1835 that the Santa Inés Mission became secularized by the Mexican government. Secularization involved replacing the padres as managers of the missions with government appointed overseers. In this case, the existing Spanish Franciscans were replaced by Mexican Franciscans who were restricted to provide only for the spiritual needs of the Chumash. The Chumash were mistreated under this new policy and began to leave the mission, returning to their villages or working at settlers’ ranches. As a result, much of their land was given to settlers in land grants. , the first
Bishop of California, established the first seminary in California at Mission Santa Inés in 1843. In 1843, California's Mexican governor
Micheltorena granted of
Santa Ynez Valley land, called
Rancho Cañada de los Pinos, to the College of Our Lady of Refuge, the first seminary in California. Established at the mission by
Francisco García Diego y Moreno, the first bishop of California, the college was abandoned in 1881. By then the mission buildings were disintegrating. Highwayman
Jack Powers briefly took over Mission Santa Inés and the adjacent
Rancho San Marcos in 1853, intending to rustle the cattle belonging to rancher
Nicolas A. Den. Powers was defeated in a bloodless armed confrontation. He was not ousted from the Santa Barbara area until 1855. The
Danish town of
Solvang was built up around the mission proper in the early 1900s. It was through the efforts of Father Alexander Buckler in 1904 that reconstruction of the mission was undertaken, though major restoration was not possible until 1947 when the
Hearst Foundation donated money to pay for the project. The restoration continues by the
Capuchin Franciscan Fathers. == Indigenous people ==