Mission Santa Barbara was the first mission founded by Father Fermin Fransisco de Lausén, Father Junipero Serra’s successor (the person who came after), as president of the California missions. It was Father Lausén who traveled to Santa Barbara and selected the mission site.

Father Lasuén came to New Spain (Present-day California) in 1761. Before he founded Mission Santa Barbara, he worked at Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Under his leadership, the number of Native Americans (formerly referred to as 'Indians') living at the California Missions went up from 5,000 to 18,000. He helped establish nine more California missions in only 18 years.

The purpose of all missions was to teach the Christian religion and increase the size and power of the country of Spain. Mission Santa Barbara was founded on December 4, 1786. The mission’s location is in a hilly area with a beautiful view of the city of Santa Barbara. At first, the mission was built of logs. Later it was rebuilt with adobe bricks.

The missionaries, or padres, had many responsibilities each day. They taught the Native Americans the Christian Religion, how to speak Spanish, and how to do work on the mission. If the Native Americans did not do the work they were forced to do, the missionaries would punish them.

Padres were always trying to get more Native Americans to come to the missions to work and learn the Christian Religion.

People at the missions needed water to drink, to grow food, and to wash clothes. They had to build an irrigation system (man-made rivers) to bring needed water to the mission. In 1806, the missionaries and the Native Americans built a dam, a reservoir, and an aqueduct, which is the name for a large man-made river. The mission had a mill for grinding grains like corn and wheat into flour, a fountain, and a lavanderia, which, in Spanish, means a place to wash clothes.

The Chumash Tribe of Native Americans lived in the area where the Spanish Missionaries built the Santa Barbara Mission on Native American lands, without their permission.

The Chumash Villages had about 100 people each. There were more than 40 villages like this. Their homes were dome-shaped. The homes had one opening to go in, and a hole at the top for the smoke to go out. The homes were made from long grasses called reeds that were woven tightly to keep the wind and rain out.

Before the Spaniards came, the Chumash worked by hunting, gathering, and preparing food. They also fished and made their own canoes that were called tomols. The Chumash made clothing from the skin of deer and antelope. They made their own tools and baskets.

When the missionaries came, the Chumash were taught how to make adobe bricks in order to build the mission buildings. Adobe bricks were made with mud and straw, and dried in the sun. The Native Americans were forced to work every day. The missionaries rang bells to tell the Native Americans when it was time to work. They learned how to farm, build places to store and move water, and take care of farm animals. The Chumash were taught how to grow grapes, so the missionaries could have wine in the church. Candles and soap were other things that Native Americans were taught how to make.