Mission San Francisco de la Espada - San Antonio, TX
Posted by: 
94RedRover
N 29° 19.094 W 098° 27.061
14R E 553306 N 3243368
Mission San Francisco de la Espada is one of four missions in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.
Waymark Code: WM5PRG
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/31/2009
Views: 18
Spain founded Mission San Francisco de los Tejas in 1690, at a location in east Texas, to act as a buffer against French encroachment from Louisiana, and convert the local Coahuiltecan (kwa-weel-teken) hunting and gathering cultures to be servants of God and productive Spanish citizens. The Tejas mission was the first Spanish mission in Texas.
Disease, attack, fire and lack of supplies caused the relocation of this mission to its present site along the San Antonio River and renamed Mission San Francisco de la Espada on March 5, 1731. In 1745, a friary was built, and the church was completed in 1756.
For fifty years, the Spanish Franciscan missionaries taught the Native Indians the ways of Spanish culture and trades that would make them valuable and productive inhabitants. As technology progressed, so did the learned trades of the Indians. These skills proved beneficial to post-colonial growth of the San Antonio River area.
Attracted by the protection and constant food supply at the mission, many local Coahuiltecans embraced the mission and Christianity. By the 1700s, Espada was a thriving, self-contained community. Secularization of the mission to a church-based community began in 1794, but the impoverished mission could not continue. The 15 families of converted Indians received what land was available, but had to share the limited equipment and supplies the mission had.
Comanches raided the mission lands in 1826, killing all the livestock and destroyed the cornfields. Also, that year, a kitchen fire destroyed most of the buildings, yet the converted locals continued to make this place home.
In November 1978, the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park was established to help preserve the missions. The church still holds service on Sundays. There are remains of many of the structures around the church.
Type: Ruin
Fee: 0
Hours:
9am-5pm daily except New Years day, Thanksgiving and Christmas when it is closed.
Related URL: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
Original photographs showing additional views of the Ruin/Remnant or even just its current condition are encouraged. Please describe your visit, especially if no additional photos are available. Did you like the Ruin or Remnant? What prompted you to see the Ruin or Remnant?