Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá was the first of the California Missions. The area was named by Captain Sebastian Viscaino in 1602 for Didacus Of Alcala who was born in 1400 near Seville. It was established in 1769 but moved just a few years later in 1774 to it's present site which was closer to water, good farmland and the villages of the Kumeyaay. Just a year later it was destroyed and Padre Luis Jayme was killed when the mission was attacked. The mission was rebuilt and a outer defense wall was built to protect it from future attacks. 
By 1791 the missions holdings had grown to 55,000 acres and total converts numbered 1405. With Mexican independence and the secularization of the Missions in 1821 the mission was given to Santiago. Arguello. It again changed hands after the signing of the Treaty of Hidalgo in 1848 and was used by the US Calvary from 1850-1857. President Abraham Lincoln restored the lands to the church in 1976.
Today the Mission church is a minor basilica. It is considered the beginning of the El Camino Real, which ends at Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma.
Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala
Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá
wikipedia Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá
CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL LANDMARK #242 #70000144 
