This is another favored image of a local / regional, old, stone-constructed church / chapel with a good bit of history behind its hallowed river rock walls. As an added bonus to my gratification, a digital copy of this photograph is being utilized [with permission] on a L.A. Conservancy website page concerning Irwindale.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Mission Church at Irwindale (fka) / Jim A. Beardsley (c) 2012
A humble group of community volunteers began building this church in 1917. As it was recorded by Father Anthony Z. Marigo in a 1969 publication: "The younger men carried rocks and sand from the [nearby San Gabriel] River by donkies [sic] and horses. The adults . . . as builders, did the digging, kept the lines straight, particularly the corners, and tried to give the church architectural lines....It was the job of the women to make tamales and coffee for the workers....Finally, all of the children sold tickets for a raffle which entitled them to buy a few sacks of cement for the work. They used to work an average of two hours per day, usually in the evenings and all day on Saturday."
In 1919, the Mission was dedicated with a solemn ceremony notwithstanding its dirt floor, hand-made altar, or borrowed candles and linens. After years of inattention on the part of the [then and former] Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles, by 1940 visiting priests were being supplied for the religious services of locals who otherwise had to make their ways to Azusa. In 1957, two priests from the Verona Fathers order based in northern Italy arrived in Irwindale to manage the Mission. By 1964, when it was elevated to parish status, Our Lady of Guadalupe was flourishing at its peak of popularity. However, the small chapel's role as a parish center turned out to be short-lived after it was quickly replaced by a new, large Catholic church a little over a mile away. Thereafter the picturesque facility was used only as a site for ceremonial events such as weddings or funerals. Interestingly, the last Catholic service held at the Mission was a memorial Mass for Father Marigo, (the site's historian), who passed away in August, 1988. In 1990, this historically-significant building and its adjacent property were purchased by the City of Irwindale from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for $270K . Since then, the City has been offering to rent out the Guadalupe Mission Historical Site for special events but apparently hasn't had the site officially designated as a historical landmark, resource, or point of interest.
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