HistoricSiteMarkers
Colonial America

Mission San Franscico Xavier de Najera

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Established in 1722. Its Indian neophytes, few in number, passed into the care of the missionaries at San Antonio de Valero in 1726. The land was later granted to the Mission Nuestra Senora De la Purisima Conception De Acunia. Reestablished in this vicinity in 1731.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Established in 1722, Mission San Francisco Xavier de Nájera was among the earliest Spanish missions in the San Antonio area, though it never thrived — its small band of Indian neophytes was folded into nearby Mission San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo) by 1726. Its lands were later granted to Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, which was reestablished in this vicinity in 1731. The short-lived mission is a footnote in the great chain of Spanish outposts along the San Antonio River.

Why it matters

Even a failed mission illuminates Spain's colonial strategy of using missions to draw Native peoples into the empire, and the consolidation that shaped San Antonio's enduring mission landscape.

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