HistoricSiteMarkers
Colonial AmericaEarly Republic

Spanish and Mexican Land Grants

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

The Texas A&M University – San Antonio campus site was built on land that once was conveyed by Spanish and Mexican land grants and traversed by several branches of El Camino Real de Tierra Afuera del Oriente (also known as El Camino Real de Los Tejas National Historic Trail). The first inhabitants of the area were Native Americans, who, at the time of discovery by Spanish explorers, were Coahuiltecans. The earliest grant for this site was made to Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo in 1720, followed by a grant made to Mission San Francisco de La Espada, founded in 1731 following its transfer from East Texas. Eventually, interspersed within these mission lands were many private Spanish and Mexican land grants made to soldiers and citizens of Béxar. Vaqueros drove thousands of cattle from the mission and private ranch herds eastward to Louisiana in support of the American Revolution and Bernardo de Gálvez’s battles against the British along the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi river. In 1808, Juan Ignacio Pérez (1761-1830) received a large five-league Spanish land grant on both sides of the Medina River. In 1781, he married Clemencia Hernández and became involved with ranching. He purchased the old comandancia, later known as the Spanish Governor’s Palace, from the Menchaca family. Along with his military and political success following the Battle of Medina (1813) on these lands, he was also a leading cattleman of the region. Smaller Mexican grants were eventually made to José de los Ángeles (ángel) Navarro (1784-1836), brother of José Antonio Navarro, Alcalde of San Antonio de Béxar and land commissioner, and José Antonio de la Garza (b.1776), one of the largest landowners in San Antonio. A large portion of campus is situated on the Spanish land grant to Fernando Rodríguez, son-in-law of Juan Ignacio Pérez. (2015)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

This land carries some of the deepest layers of Texas history: home first to the Coahuiltecan peoples, then granted in the 1720s and 1730s to the Spanish missions of San José and Espada, and crisscrossed by branches of the El Camino Real. From these ranch lands, vaqueros drove cattle east to help supply Bernardo de Gálvez's campaigns against the British during the American Revolution. Over the following decades, Spanish and Mexican land grants passed to soldiers and prominent Béxar families like the Pérez and Navarro clans.

Why it matters

Few places show so clearly the Native, Spanish, and Mexican foundations beneath Texas—and the surprising thread linking South Texas cattle to the American Revolution itself.

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Related people

  • · Juan Ignacio Pérez
  • · José Antonio Navarro

Related events

  • · Battle of Medina

Themes & tags

Native American HistoryWestward ExpansionFrontier HistoryLandmark

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