Approximate Location of the Missions
N 30° 15.782 W 097° 46.211
14R E 618303 N 3348572
A handsome pink granite historic marker at the south entry to Barton Springs Pool in Austin's Zilker Park
Waymark Code: WMTD3Q
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/04/2016
Views: 4
This marker is located inside the pay boundary on the south side of Barton Springs Pool. It preserves little-known history of three missions in Austin, which, if they had not been abandoned, could have rivaled the large missions that were built 15 years later in San Antonio.
From the Handbook of Texas Online: (
visit link)
"SAN FRANCISCO DE LOS NECHES MISSION.
San Francisco de los Neches was the name given to Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas Mission when it was moved and reestablished in 1721 by the Marqués de Aguayo and Fray Isidro Félix de Espinosa, president of the Texas missions of the College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro. The new site of the mission was east of the Neches River, six miles west of the site of present Alto in Cherokee County. Father Joseph Guerra was appointed resident missionary. In 1730, after the abandonment of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de los Tejas Presidio, the mission was removed at the request of the missionaries to the Colorado River in the vicinity of present Zilker Park, Austin. In 1731 it was moved to its final location on the San Antonio River and renamed San Francisco de la Espada Mission."