Santa Barbara Mission and The Disneyland Stagecoach

This May 1955 image shows the Mission Santa Barbara, which was founded on December 4th, 1786. It was the tenth of twenty-one California Missions to be founded by the Spanish Franciscans. Over time three adobe churches were constructed on the grounds, each larger than the one before until the fourth and present church was built in 1820. Flash forward to 2002 and you can see this comparison image that I shot during my first visit there:



Walt paid homage to the Mission with the decoration of one of his stagecoaches, which was named The California.



It featured an illustration of the Mission on its door:



This 1955 Disneyland Stagecoach photo shows it in color:



Zeroing in for a closer look:



Just a little closer:



Two more 1950's shots of the California Coach:





The Arizona Stagecoach had a picture that looked worthy of a John Ford western:



The closeup view:



This December 1955 shot gives an even better view of the Arizona's illustration:





Which one would you rather ride in?

See more vintage & current Daveland Santa Barbara photos from my collection on my main website.

Stagecoach and Santa Barbara

This overhead shot of the Nature's Wonderland attraction from 1957 shows the Stagecoach thundering through the Living Desert.

Zooming in, you can see the miniature pueblos atop the rock formations.



Here's a better view of the Stagecoach, which disappeared from the park somewhere around 1959/1960.



This 1954 shot shows the Stagecoach parked at the Burbank Disney Studio:



Zooming in to the side of the vehicle you can see an illustration of a mission.



When you compare it to this contemporary shot I took of the Santa Barbara Mission, I'd say we have a match!



Another 1954 photo shows Walt with some youngsters horsin' around the Stagecoach on the Disney Studio lot in Burbank:



See more vintage Disneyland Nature's Wonderland photos on my Nature's Wonderland web page.