Fremont highlight
Mission San Jose
A Spanish mission founded on June 11, 1797, located on Mission Boulevard in Fremont, rebuilt after the 1868 earthquake and reconstructed in 1985.
Mission San José was founded on June 11, 1797, as the fourteenth of the California Spanish missions, situated in what is now Fremont at 43300 Mission Boulevard. The site was chosen after an earlier attempt to establish a mission farther north met with indigenous resistance. Work began in May 1797 under Franciscan direction, with the adobe church dedicated with ceremony on April 22, 1809. During its prosperous years, the mission became one of California's largest landholders, controlling thousands of head of cattle, horses, and sheep.
The mission entered decline following Mexican secularization policies in 1833. On October 21, 1868, an earthquake on the Hayward Fault caused severe structural damage, shattering the church walls and roof. The original structure was never fully restored. A reconstructed church, completed in 1985, was built to replicate the appearance of the original 1809 adobe structure but incorporates modern earthquake-resistant steel framing. Today it operates as a chapel and museum administered by Saint Joseph Parish under the Diocese of Oakland.
Mission San José represents nearly two centuries of continuity in Fremont's community. Like the mission's long commitment to its place in California, life insurance planning is about commitment to your family's future: a policy that names the people you want to protect and specifies a fixed sum that would be paid if you die ensures that commitment persists regardless of circumstance.