Within the first year a chapel,
granary,
tack room, and three other rooms had been constructed, using native labor. In 1788 two more rooms were added. In 1789 a second granary was built, quarters for the
mayordomo, and quarters for the missionaries were built. Also, a covered passageway which temporarily served as a kitchen. Crops of wheat and beans were planted and limestone was mined at nearby Mori Point in quantities to provide for the food and construction needs of the parent mission. At its peak the
asistencia consisted of a three-wing main structure surrounding a central plaza. Corn, peas, barley, asparagus, and rosemary would, in time also be cultivated, along with grape vineyards and groves of peach and quince trees. Due to a significant decline in the native population due to several infectious diseases including syphilis (Stanger 1963), the population dropped from 300 in 1790 to 25 in 1792 at which point the facility was closed and used mainly as an outpost to graze
cattle after 1790. After
secularization of the missions in 1834,
Juan Alvarado, the Mexican Governor of California, granted the lands of the
Rancho San Pedro to
Francisco Sanchez in 1839. Included were all of the buildings of the Asistencia. Sanchez retained ownership of the property after California was ceded to the United States in 1848. In 1894, roof tiles were salvaged from the property and installed on the
Southern Pacific Railroad depot located in
Burlingame, California (the first permanent structure constructed in the
Mission Revival Style). Today, little remains of the original installation. ==References==