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Photograph of Mission San Juan Capistrano
Photograph by DDauri Daniel D'Auria, CC BY 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Built in 1776. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. 15 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1901.

From the record

“Mission San Juan Capistrano is a Spanish mission in San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California. Founded November 1, 1776 in colonial Las Californias by Spanish Catholic missionaries of the Franciscan Order, it was named for Saint John of Capistrano.”

Wikipedia article Mission San Juan Capistrano, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 136 National Register listings published here for Orange County · listed in 1971 · category: Building · built in 1776.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. Camino Capistrano and Ortega Hwy., San Juan Capistrano, 92675
  • When was it listed? September 1971
  • Category. building
  • Census division. South Coast
  • When was it built? 1776
  • National Register reference number. 71000170 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1901 to 1983

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 82 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Mission San Juan Capistrano, surveyed 1983
Topographic sheet covering Mission San Juan Capistrano, surveyed 1901

Fires near this property

86 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 86 fires within 5 miles of Mission San Juan Capistrano between 1994 and 2018, burning about 638 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 27 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Arson/incendiarism27
Missing data/not specified/undetermined24
Smoking14
Equipment and vehicle use10
Misuse of fire by a minor6
Recreation and ceremony2
Debris and open burning1
Natural1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 2007Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined98 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
5 September 2010Smokingunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
22 September 2010Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
13 September 2005Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 August 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOrange County Fire Authoritynot named
5 August 2009Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 August 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreOrange County Fire Authoritynot named

Every fire recorded in Orange County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Mission San Juan Capistrano: 8 producers, 3 past producers. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General, Silica, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Mission Viejo Sand PlantClayProducer
San Juan PitFeldsparPast Producer
Capistrano DepositLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Crestline QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Mission Viejo Sand PitSilicaProducer
Mission Viejo Sand PlantSilicaProducer
Capistrano PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
San Juan Capistrano PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
San Juan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
San Juan PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Orange County

Storms near this property

3 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names San Juan Capistrano, the town this property stands in, in 3 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 1 flood, 1 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
November 2002FloodSan Juan Capistrano$150,000no account filed
November 2025Thunderstorm WindSan Juan Capistrano-Corrects previous tstm wnd dmg report from 1 W San Juan Capistrano. Report photos show umbrellas blown from second floor of home to ground, including a bent flag pole hinge from wind.
April 2020Heavy RainSan Juan Capistrano-Near 1 inch of rain in 20 minutes in San Juan Capistrano.

Every storm recorded in Orange County

Maps showing this location

15 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Carl Stroschein Houseunder 500 feet2009
Los Rios Street Historic District0.1 miles1983
Montanez Adobe0.1 miles1975
Casa de Esperanza0.1 miles1990
Yorba, Domingo Adobe and Casa Manuel Garcia0.2 miles1982
Esslinger Building0.2 miles1988

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 71000170 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Orange CountyAll 136 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.