a site along the Guadalupe River for the future church, erecting a cross and celebrating the first Mass a few days later. The campus was built on the land of the Ohlone people who relocated after suffering a decline in population due to epidemics and a loss of natural resources in the area.
Natural disasters forced early priests to relocate and rebuild the church on several occasions, moving it westward and away from the river. Built of wood, the first permanent structure quickly flooded and was replaced by a larger adobe building in 1784. This building suffered heavy damage in an 1818 earthquake and was replaced six years later by a new adobe edifice.
=== Early college history ===
The mission flourished for more than 50 years despite these setbacks. Beginning in the 1830s, however, the mission lands were repossessed in conjunction with government policy implemented via the Mexico's secularization, and church buildings fell into disrepair. The bishop of Monterey, Dominican Joseph Sadoc Alemany, offered the …
