Early Texas Missions (Prior 1690) (CEC)

Mission San Clemente is known as the first Spanish mission in Texas, although there were actually two different missions built on the same location, more than 50 years apart. The Spanish Franciscans visited the area for a short time in 1629, and promised the local Jumano Indians that they would return. In 1632, the friars built a mission located near the confluence of the Concho River and the Colorado River, which was then known as the Río San Clemente. The mission was constructed of logs, and operated for only 6 months; during that time, 2-3,000 Indians were baptized. In 1684, another mission was built near the same site by Juan Dominguez de Mendoza and Fray Nicolas Lopez. The lower floor of the log structure was a chapel, and the upper floor was an lookout post. The exact location is not known.

The Ysleta Mission is recognized as the oldest continuously operated parish in the State of Texas. The Franciscans and the Tigua (Tiwa) Indians who founded the mission were fleeing from the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico, where Indians had risen up against the harsh and inflexible Spanish rule.

Like other missions in the El Paso area, the Socorro mission was founded by refugees from the Pueblo Revolt of 1690, when hostile Indians drove the Spanish and allied tribes from the settlements, haciendas and missions in northern New Mexico.

Refugees fleeing from the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico founded this mission. Piro Indians from the Senecú Pueblo (south of Albuquerque, New Mexico) settled several leagues downriver from Guadalupe del Paso and a little northwest of the Tigua Indians of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo. The mission was dedicated to San Antonio de Padua.

While not a true mission, Governor Antonio de Otermín established the site as his headquarters after fleeing the Pueblo revolt. Suma Indians occupied the area

Juan Sabeata, a Jumano Indian, reported having seen a fiery cross on the mountain; the subsequent mission settlement became known as La Navidad en Las Cruces.

El Apóstol Santiago was on Alamito Creek between present-day Presidio and Redford, Texas

The mysterious "Lady in Blue" allegedly visited Jumano Indians in the vicinity of Palo Duro Canyon

The Spanish scouted this region to establish missions in this region, but decided against the move.

The Pueblo revolt of 1680 sent Spanish colonists and Tigua Indians of New Mexico fleeing southward to take refuge at the Pass. By 1682 these refugees founded five settlements, thus providing the Pass of the North with a concentration of population from that time to the present. The Spanish established a presidio in 1682.

Spanish Presidios present in Texas 1690 and before

Spanish Missions present in Texas 1690 and before