Mission San Jose was established in 1797 about 15 miles from the original village of San Jose, in today’s Fremont. The original church was a temporary structure with a thatched roof. In 1809 a permanent church was built of traditional adobe. The current Mission church is a replica of this 1809 church.

On Oct. 21, 1868, a devastating earthquake along the Hayward Fault severely damaged the old adobe church. A replacement church made of redwood was built on the site of the destroyed adobe church, built in the traditional Gothic style of the churches of New England, reflecting the culture of the American residents.

In 1965, the parish’s main church and parish hall building was built, and the old 1869 church building fell out of use.

In 1981 the parish and diocese began work to reconstruct the original 1809 adobe mission church on its original site. This spot was still occupied by the vintage 1869 building.  The old wooden church was put up for sale with the provision that it must be moved to another place and continue to be used as a church.

The 1869 wooden church was sold for $1 in 1982 to the Christ Anglican Church, a new Anglican parish in San Mateo and moved across the Bay.  The first step was removing the 80-foot steeple. Next, the building was cut into four pieces.  The sections were loaded on flatbed trucks and on Sunday, Sept. 26, 1982, a caravan hauled the church around the Bay to San Mateo.

The building was reassembled in San Mateo at El Camino Real and State Street and is still in use by Christ Anglican Church.  The Anglican community restored the wooden church to its original name as St. Joseph Church in 2014

Below are some pictures of the 1869 church taken in the early 1900’s.