Site of the Mission San Lorenzo de La Santa Cruz
Camp Wood, Real County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded by Franciscan missionaries among the Lipan Apache Indians in 1762. Abandoned in 1769.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1762, Franciscan missionaries established Mission San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz on this ground to minister to the Lipan Apache, part of Spain's broader effort to draw Native peoples into mission life on its northern frontier. Like many such ventures among independent Plains and mountain nations, it proved short-lived and was abandoned in 1769. Its brief existence marks one of Spain's northernmost attempts to plant a mission among the Lipan.
Why it matters
The mission's quick rise and fall captures the limits of Spanish colonial ambition when it met Native nations who had their own designs on the land.
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Related events
- · Spanish mission system among the Lipan Apache
Themes & tags
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