Closure for The Padre

Fra Junipero Serra in Dolores Mission Cemetry

The Indian

When we were in San Francisco we visited the Dolores Mission, while in the cemetary we saw a statue with a plaque naming it as Father Junipero Serra, by Arthur Putnam, however this was only a copy in cement. On researching it we found that it was one of a series of statues called The Padre which were in San Diego, so now that we are here I was determined to find that original statue. It was supposed to be in the Presidio Park. Now, as a part of San Diego, the Presidio Park has a long history. In 1543 when Cabrillo first landed at Ballast Point, just below Point Loma it more or less defined where a future settlement would be, however it is not until 1769 that the first permanent settlement is established by Junipero Serra, who went on to found other missions which formed part of the famous 21 Missions of California. The usual practice at the time was to combine a mission with a military presence, the presidio. This one was established on the hill overlooking San Diego, with a stockade and a small mission. The stockade was later abandoned and the mission moved to its current location some 6 miles away, the Mission San Diego de Alcala, however the land was acquired and became a public park. A newspaper millionaire called E.W. Scripps had commissioned Arthur Putnam to produce five statues depicting California, of which Putnam made three, for the grounds of his ranch. He later donated them to San Diego and two of them now stand in the Presidio Park, The Indian being the first and most famous.

The Padre in Presdio Park

The Padre being the next and the third was the Plowman, which is in the grounds of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.


 As I said earlier, I was determined to find the bronze version of The Padre. Originally Sally and I set out on the Friday, however the museum was closed and I had very little idea of the layout of the Park, The park is also very overgrown,so although I later found out that we passed within about 20 yards of it, we were looking the wrong way and completely missed it. So today (Sunday) I was able to find out exactly where the statue was and we went directly to it. It now stands on the site of the original mission in a quiet grove of Live Oak.

The Inscription in Dolores Cemetry

The Inscription in Presidio Park

This statue is called The Padre and is meant to show a concept, not a person, however it seems that at Dolores Mission they have mistakenly taken their copy as being a statue of  Fra Junipero Serra, which is quite strange.
The trail of this statue has led me to finding out some of the interesting history of California, two of its great cities, San Diego and San Francisco, its early history and the rise of the 21 Missions as well as its artists and patrons of the 19th and early 20th century. Great fun.