History of the Mission
The Old Adobe Mission originated as Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Catholic Church and built by hand by the Mexicans who settled in Scottsdale in the late 1910s. It was designed by Robert T. Evans in a Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style similar to others he had seen in Sonora and New Mexico.
More than 14,000 adobe bricks were used for the construction. They were each made from a blend of native clay, silt, sand, straw, dung, and water. They weighed 50 pounds and were carried and placed by hand.
Grandvell Shumaker drew up the blueprints and helped the men read them as construction began, and Bérnabe Herrera, a tinsmith and OLPH’s first catechist, handcrafted all of the Mission’s 15 stained-glass panes using discarded stained glass from St. Augustine’s Cathedral in Tucson.
The women from the community also assisted by organizing the advertising and fundraising and providing on-site workers with food, water, and most of all, encouragement. Doña Dolores Rivera de Ochoa, the treasurer of the Catholic Society, collected donations to help build the church, which was completed in the fall of 1933.
In 1949, it became a parish, and it served its community until 1956 when the parish outgrew the building and moved into a larger church at Miller Road and 2nd Street.
In 2000, the City of Scottdale’s Historic Preservation Commission contacted OLPH regarding placement of the Mission on its Historic Register. Rev. Thomas Hever, the pastor of OLPH, made the decision to preserve the old church, and in 2001, the City of Scottsdale officially placed the Mission on its Register of Historic Buildings.
Restoration efforts began in 2002 with a grant obtained from the Arizona State Parks’ Historic Preservation Heritage Fund.
In 2013, the Mission celebrated its 80th anniversary. In 2014, with restorations 75% complete, the Mission kicked off a capital campaign to complete the remaining renovations.
Today, the Old Adobe Mission continues to represent a true, historic monument of faith. Its splendor is forever captured in the simplicity of its design, and its quiet, majestic beauty continues to call out to anyone seeking a peaceful place for prayer, contemplation, meditation, and serenity.