Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1896.
From the record
“Francis by-the-Sea American Catholic Church is a historic church in Laguna Beach, California, United States. It was built in 1934 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.”
Wikipedia article St. Francis by-the-Sea American Catholic Church, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 136 National Register listings published here for Orange County · listed in 1988 · category: Building.
National Register reference number.88000978- 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
1896 to 1983
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
87 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
18961983
Fires near this property
50 since 1994
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 50 fires within 5 miles of St. Francis by-the-Sea American Catholic Church
between 1994 and 2020, burning about 185 acres in total. None started naturally. 15 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
19
Arson/incendiarism
15
Equipment and vehicle use
7
Smoking
4
Misuse of fire by a minor
4
Power generation/transmission/distribution
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Date
Cause
Size
Reported by
Name on the report
22 September 2020
Equipment and vehicle use
under an acre
Orange County Fire Authority
not named
15 September 2018
Arson/incendiarism
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
not named
13 September 2005
Power generation/transmission/distribution
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
not named
12 September 2007
Arson/incendiarism
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
not named
28 August 2012
Smoking
under an acre
Orange County Fire Authority
not named
19 August 2006
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
not named
1 August 2011
Arson/incendiarism
under an acre
Orange County Fire Authority
not named
1 August 2005
Equipment and vehicle use
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Laguna Beach, the town this property stands in, in 14 storm reports between 1998 and 2019: 4 waterspout, 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 1 hail.
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.
High winds associated with a line of thunderstorms moved through south Orange County between 1330 and 1400 PST on the 19th. A spotter reported wind damage at his mother's condominium complex in Laguna Niguel, near Oso Parkway and Highway 73. A twelve foot tall tennis court enclosure with 4 inch aluminum posts was bent outwards at a 25 degree angle, two mature trees with a trunk diameter of greater than 12 inches were snapped off just above the ground level, and numerous 4 inch diameter tree branches from a pine tree broke off. The spotter was not at the location at the time, but observed the damage two months after it happened. The mother and another neighbor felt a suction and the windows of their condos shook violently. It is possible that a tornado briefly touched down in the complex, though no other reports of a tornado could be found.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
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.
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.
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.
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