The first European to reach San Diego was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese, who claimed the land for Spain in 1542. The event was not considered important because Spain was still enjoying the wealth of conquered Mexico.

However, according to Edith Buckland Webb's "Indian Life at the Old Missions" published in 1952 by W. F. Lewis, when Russian ships began to skirt the coast of California, Spanish presence had to be noticeable. Gaspar de Portola led an expedition to San Diego to start a base. He arrived with Father Junipero Serra in 1769 who started the first of 21 missions in California: the Mission San Diego de Alcala. Once the mission was built on a hillside, adobe houses began to sprout below which comprised the early community of Old Town.

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