Approximate Location of the Missions
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Approximate location of the Missions San Francisco de Los Neches, Nuestra Senora de la Purisma Concepcion, San Jose de los Nazonis. Established in East Texas by Franciscan missionaries in 1716 for the Christianizing and civilizing of the Indians in the region. Abandoned temporarily due to the French incursions from Louisiana in 1719. Restored by the Marquis of Aguayo in 1721. Removed to the Colorado River in 1730. Permanently placed on the San Antonio River in 1731 and there known respectively as San Francisco de la Espada, Nuestra Senora de la Purisma Concepcion de Acuna, San Juan Capistrano. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This site marks the approximate spot where Franciscan missionaries relocated three East Texas missions to the Colorado River in 1730 before moving them permanently to the San Antonio River in 1731. First founded in 1716 to convert the region's Native peoples, the missions were abandoned during French incursions from Louisiana in 1719 and restored by the Marquis of Aguayo in 1721.
Why it matters
The wandering missions trace Spain's contested effort to hold Texas against French Louisiana by converting and gathering its Native inhabitants.
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Related people
- · Marquis of Aguayo
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Barton Springs
Austin, TX
Fed by the Balcones Fault and gushing millions of gallons daily, Barton Springs drew people long before Austin existed — Native peoples, then Spanish friars who placed three missions here in 1730–31, then settler William "Uncle Billy" Barton, who patented the land around 1837 and named springs for his daughters. His tame buffalo calves lured sightseers even amid the danger of frontier raids, and over the decades bathhouses, mills, a merry-go-round, and excursion boats turned the spot into a playground. A.J. Zilker eventually deeded the land to Austin as the beloved public park it remains.
Shoal Creek
Austin, TX
This shallow, sandy crossing of Shoal Creek was a natural ford long used by Native Americans, settlers, and cattle drovers moving through the Colorado River valley. During the days of the Republic of Texas in the late 1830s, Vice President Mirabeau B. Lamar camped near here by the tiny village of Waterloo while on a buffalo hunt — and was so taken by the setting that he championed it as the site of the new nation's capital. Waterloo was soon renamed Austin and became the capital of Texas.
Tyler Rose
Austin, TX
According to this marker, the celebrated Tyler Rose grew from a hardy native rose that Cherokee people were said to have planted in the early 1800s. Whatever its exact origins, East Texas around Tyler became a major center of commercial rose growing, its sturdy rootstock prized for grafting hybrids shipped by nurserymen worldwide. The marker frames the flower as a small emblem of the region's horticultural fame.
Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre Expedition
Austin, TX
In 1709, with Spain uneasy about its long-standing but thinly held claim to Texas, a small goodwill expedition set out from a Rio Grande mission: Captain Pedro de Aguirre with fourteen soldiers escorting the Franciscan fathers Isidro de Espinosa and Antonio de San Buenaventura Olivares. They came seeking the Tejas people but did not find them here, and lacking orders to cross the Colorado River, the padres sent an invitation to the East Texas Indians and turned back near this site. The trip reflected Spain's anxious response to news of French traders probing Texas.