Mission Santa Barbara's name comes from the legend of Saint Barbara, a girl who was beheaded by her father for following the Christian Faith. The early missionaries built three different chapels during the first few years, each larger than the previous one. After the significant damage from the Santa Barbara earthquake on December 21, 1812, construction on the current Mission was begun. It was completed and dedicated in 1820. The towers were considerably damaged in the June 29, 1925 earthquake, but were subsequently rebuilt by 1927. The appearance of the inside of the church has not been altered significantly since 1820.
Santa Bárbara is the only mission with two matching bell towers, each 87 feet tall and 20 feet square. The first tower was built in 1820 and the second was added in 1831. A narrow passage in one tower allows access to the bells (eight bells in 1833, later increased to 11 bells).
Statues: Statues on the roof represent Faith, Hope and Charity. The Statue of St. Bárbara was added in 1927.
Mission Compound: The mission church formed one corner of a quadrangle with a patio in the middle. Facing the inner patio were living quarters for priests, storage areas, the kitchen, offices and dormitories. About 250 small adobe houses with tile roofs were built in rows near the mission compound for the Chumash Indian families.
Mission Grounds: Outside the mission walls were larger workshops, a cemetery, grazing for livestock, fields and orchards, a gristmill and a reservoir for water.
Water System: The mission site was chosen in 1769 by Father Serra because of its closeness to a good water supply. Two dams and two stone basins were built on Pedragoso Creek in a hilly area. Four-inch stone aqueducts brought the water down to the mission through the storage reservoirs. Mission Santa Bárbara had the most complete water system of any of the missions, some of it still useable today. Some water went through a filtration system and was stored for drinking. Some went into a Moorish fountain in front of the mission, where the water spouted from the mouth of a stone bear and then into the 70-foot pool, used by the mission women for washing clothes.
