⛪ How did Spain start this town?

You live in San Rafael, and long ago, right around here, Spanish newcomers built a mission. A mission was a place with a church, where priests lived and worked with Native people. But this one started out as something else. Can you guess? A castle, a school, or a hospital?

A hospital! Across the bay in San Francisco, the mission was cold and foggy, like living inside a cloud. Many Native people there got very sick, often from new illnesses the newcomers had brought with them. People believed that milder weather would help them heal. And San Rafael is tucked in behind hills, so it is often warmer and sunnier here.

So sick people were sent here to rest and get better. This whole town started as a giant get-well card! Peek out at the bay. Is it foggy or sunny right now? Later, the little hospital grew so big and busy that it became a real mission of its own.