After 1800

In time, soldiers retired and built homes for their families outside the presidio walls.  The presidio Chapel continued to serve as parish church for them and for others who made the new city of Santa Barbara their home.

The soldiers and their wives were seriously religious people, and they often ordered rosaries and prayer cards.  Many other items were donated or purchased for the chapel by the soldiers and their families during these early years.  For instance, there is still at the Mission a very small statuette of the Virgin Mary, said by the Ortega family to be a gift to the first commandant, Jose Ortega, from his friend, Father Junipero Serra.

After 1810, when the supply ships from Mexico stopped coming, new things were still acquired for the church, such as a small organ that came to the chapel.  The Presidio Chapel was still the focus for the religious spirit for the early families. 

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