Following the Mexican secularization act of 1833, the mission village officially became a town and was briefly renamed as San Juan de Argüello.

The region was populated by the Acjachemen, referred to by the Spanish as Juaneños, an Indigenous Californian nation.

[7] The settlement that today is San Juan Capistrano began in 1776 when the Spanish Franciscan missionary Junípero Serra founded Mission San Juan Capistrano, the seventh of the Spanish missions in California.

The 1812 San Juan Capistrano earthquake resulted in the deaths of thirty-nine Acjachemen people, thirty-one of whom were women, when the stone church at the Mission collapsed.

Santiago Argüello, a member of a prominent family of Californios, was appointed administrator of Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Forster made his home there until 1864, when the mission was returned to the Catholic Church by President Abraham Lincoln.

Following the American Conquest of California, San Juan remained a relatively small and rural community until the end of the 19th century.

Padre O'Sullivan arrived in San Juan Capistrano in 1910 to recuperate from a recent stroke.

He became fascinated by Mission San Juan Capistrano and soon set to work on rebuilding it a section at a time.

O'Sullivan repaired the roof of the Serra Chapel using California sycamore logs to match those that were used in the original work.

He brought in architect Arthur B. Benton of Los Angeles to strengthen the chapel walls through the addition of heavy masonry buttresses.

The centerpiece of the chapel restoration was its retablo, imported from Barcelona in 1806 and donated by the Bishop of Los Angeles.

The restoration of the mission resulted in the town's emergence as a tourist destination, owing to its historic architectural style and proximity to the sea.

[15] San Juan Capistrano is located in south Orange County and is bisected by Interstate 5.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.3 square miles (37 km2).

According to the 2010 Census, San Juan Capistrano had a median household income of $75,356, with 12.7% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

The protected birds return during migration, which originates in the town of Goya, Argentina, around Saint Joseph's Day (March 19) each year.

In the 2007–08 academic year, San Juan Hills High School opened with about 600 freshman students.

The other is Rancho Capistrano Christian School (grades K–8), located off Interstate 5 on Saddleback Church's south campus.

The San Juan Capistrano Patch, an online-only news website, also serves the city.

Its proximity to the city's tourist attractions makes it a popular stop during the summer months.

Interstate 5 (San Diego Freeway) has three interchanges completely located in the city (at Camino Capistrano, SR 74/Ortega Highway, and Junipero Serra Road), two interchanges partially located within the city (at SR 1/Camino las Ramblas (which is partially within Dana Point) as well as SR 73 (which is partially within Mission Viejo), and an additional northbound entrance ramp from Stonehill Drive and Camino Capistrano.

It is often incorrectly referenced that SR 1 terminates in nearby Dana Point because the city borders the Pacific Ocean (unlike San Juan Capistrano).

California State Route 74 has its official western terminus at Interstate 5 in San Juan Capistrano.