La Purísima Concepción Los Flores Adobe Hill House Ell End of the Table << >> La Purísima Concepción Churchyard Wall & Church Mission La Purísima Concepción Lompoc, California 4 x 5 Pinhole Photographs Glenn Bydwell 2006 History The mission La Purísima Concepción de Santísima Virgen María was the 11th in California's chain of missions. It was founded in 1787 in Lompoc by 'presidente' Fermin Francisco de Lasuen. The mission's first buildings were begun in 1788 and completed in 1789 but were destroyed by an earthquake in 1812. The buildings shown here were constructed 5 miles from the original site between 1815-1818. The new site had adequate water, good soil, and was on the Camino Real. At its previous location the Mission had frequently been cut off from the other missions by the seasonal flooding of the Santa Ynez River. The linear layout of the buildings at La Purísima is unusual among the California missions which were usually planned around a courtyard. The mission was abandoned to ruin in 1844 and restored and rebuilt between 1934 and 1951. The restoration work was started by Civilian Conservation Corps under the direction of the National Park Service.