Junipero Serra statue at Highway 280 rest stop in San Mateo County quietly removed by Caltrans

By CBS Bay Area

For decades, anyone driving along Interstate Highway 280 in Hillsborough could look up and see a giant statue of Father Junípero Serra watching over the Peninsula next to the Crystal Springs rest stop.

But this summer, Caltrans quietly removed the statue, and the move is reigniting a debate over the 18th-century missionary’s legacy.

Patricia Gonzalez knows the Crystal Springs Rest Area better than most, since she manages it.

“As a kid, I remember going to Blackberry Farm and passing the statue and knowing, ‘Okay, we’re almost there,'” she said.

For the past three years, Gonzalez has watched travelers pull off I-280, some for a quick break, others to take photos with the figure that stood guard above them.

“The last people to come were from Ireland, and they came to see the statue, and it was gone,” Gonzalez said.

Built in 1975 by artist Louis Dubois, the 26-foot-tall statue had become part of the landscape, a landmark for commuters, families, and tourists from around the world.

But this summer, the view changed overnight.

“All I was told is that they were going to close the rest stop down,” said Gonzalez. “They closed it for about a week and took the statue down.”

Gonzalez says crews from Caltrans arrived in August with little notice. When the rest area reopened, the statue was gone.

Caltrans later confirmed the removal, saying the monument no longer met requirements under the state’s Transportation Art Program and that the structure was too fragile to move safely.

On its website, Caltrans says the Transportation Art Program installs artwork that represents communities’ “unique aesthetic, environmental, scenic, historical, and cultural values.”

Serra, an 18th-century Spanish missionary, helped found the first nine of California’s 21 missions. But his legacy has become increasingly controversial. To his supporters, he’s a symbol of faith and heritage. To his critics, he represents a painful era of colonization and the suppression of Indigenous people.

Greg Castro, a cultural leader with the Association of Ohlone Tribes, has advocated for years to see the statue come down.

“One of the responses we get is that we’re trying to erase history,” Castro said. “And my response is that the statue itself erases history, it ignores the harm that was done.”

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said he was not told about the removal before it happened. 

“No one fought for St. Junípero Serra because, apparently, officials from Caltrans and the Transportation Art Program didn’t consult with anyone who would give them an opinion that differed from their own,” said Cordileone in a statement sent to CBS News Bay Area. “Would we expect this treatment if it happened to be associated with another religious organization? I think not.”

Serra was canonized as a saint by Pope Francis in 2015. His statues have been the target of protests in recent years, including in 2020 when one in San Rafael was vandalized with red paint and another in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park was toppled by demonstrators.

Today, the hillside in Hillsborough where Serra’s statue once stood is empty, just a patch of earth above the rest stop Gonzalez still runs.

“People are going to miss it,” she said. “People still come every day to see it. It’s sad.”

While the debate over Serra’s legacy may continue for years, Gonzalez says for her, it’s simpler: a piece of local history that’s now just a memory on the drive home.

Caltrans says the statue was removed back in August and that there are no plans to rebuild or replace it.