Founded on July 25, 1797, by Fathers Fermín Lasuén and Buenaventura Sitjar, Mission San Miguel Arcángel became the sixteenth California mission and a key stop between San Luis Obispo and San Antonio de Padua. Built near the Salinan village of Vahca, it sought to evangelize the local Indigenous population. After an earlier chapel burned in 1806, the present church was erected from 1816 to 1818, preserving original murals and a distinctive arcade of 12 varied arches. Despite decline after secularization in 1833, later restoration and continued parish use helped preserve one of California’s most intact mission complexes, including part of its neophyte village.