Tonkawa Bank

Marker Inscription

Reports of a French settlement somewhere in Texas sent a shockwave through New Spain. Eleven expeditions by land and sea were launched to find La Salle's settlement and destroy it. On April 22, 1689, Spanish governor General Alonso de Leon and his troops discovered the deserted outpost. Considering their orders fulfilled, they buried La Salle's eight cannons and returned to Mexico City. One year later, De Leon returned, burned the French structures, and proceeded on to East Texas to found the first missions there. In 1722, the original Presidio La Bahia was built atop the remains of the French outpost. The original Mission Espiritu Santo, was established across Garcitas Creek in present-day Jackson County. The same problems which doomed La Salle's colony also plagued the Spaniards, necessitating a move. Missionaries led by Father Ignacio de San Jose y Baena were operating at a new site, twenty-five miles away on the east bank of the Guadalupe River by 1725. Tonkawa Bank, as it would later be known, had a reliable supply of fresh water (Spring Creek), as well as stone and timber which were used to construct the Spanish complex. A sizable earthen dam was constructed to aid the irrigation of crops below the mission site. Quickly outgrowing the site, Spanish agricultural and missionary activities relocated once again, eight miles upstream, to the area now known as Mission Valley. From 1726 to 1749, the mission occupied the west bank of the river, supported by the presidio two miles downstream on the opposite bank. By November 1749, the mission and presidio relocated to the San Antonio River near present-day Goliad. The migration of Presidio La Bahia and Mission Espiritu Santo from Garcitas Creek (1722) to the San Antonio River (1749) is a vital chapter in the Spanish colonial history of Texas. (1970, 2011)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission