MIssion Espada

On the way home we took a detour to explore the old Mission Espada in San Antonio.

Founded in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas southwest of present-day Alto, Texas (at approx. coords. 31.5482°, -95.2397°), Mission San Francisco de la Espada was the first mission established in Texas. There are older missions currently in West Texas, but they were in Mexico at the time they were established.'

Three priests, three soldiers and supplies were left among the Nabedache Indians. The new mission was dedicated on June 1, 1690. A smallpox epidemic in the winter of 1690-1691 killed an estimated 3,300 people in the area. The Nabedaches believed the Spaniards brought the disease and hostilities developed between the two groups.
Drought besieged the mission in the summers of 1691 and 1692, and the Nabedache wished to be rid of the mission. Under threat of personal attack, the priests loaded what supplies they could, burned the mission and returned to Monclova.

The mission was re-established in the same area on July 5, 1716 as Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas. The new mission had to be abandoned in 1719 because of conflict between Spain and France.

The mission was tried once more on August 5, 1721 as San Francisco de los Neches. As the Nabedache were no longer interested in the mission, and France had abandoned effort to lay claim in the area, the mission was temporarily relocated along the Colorado River in July 1730. Mission Tejas State Park encompasses the original site of the mission.

The mission relocated to its current location in the San Antonio River area (coords 29.3177°, -98.4498°) in March, 1731 and was renamed San Francisco de la Espada. A friary was built in 1745, and the church was completed in 1756.