Mission Espada on San Antonio's Mission Trail

We drive two miles south to the last Mission on on the San Antonio Mission Trail.

Eric at the Mission Espada sign,

 southernmost Mission

The entrance to this

walled Mission

Eric & I wonder what this

area of the Mission was

used for.

Construction of  Mission Espada
started in 1745 & was completed
in 1756.






It has three exterior bells, like Mission San Juan.

Eric at the Chapel's arched doorway

This arched stonework has been

studied for many years.

This small Mission, furthest from Mission Concepcion, struggled with repeated Apache raids on crops and livestock and worker shortages.

The Holy Water Font adjacent
to the rear pew

Mission Espada has a

timbered ceiling.

Stations of the Cross

line the walls.

A fire burned the ceiling and timbers in 1998.

Statues in the Sanctuary
& the Altar

The back of this small

church does not have

a balcony.

The base of the walls of the larger

church that was started in 1762.

It was disassembled when

instabilities were found.

Native Americans began to leave the Mission, leaving the community with fewer and fewer people to keep the community going.  In 1794, this struggling Mission Espada began the process of becoming a church-based community.  Comanches raided the Mission's cornfields and killed the livestock in 1826.  Later that year, most of the buildings were gutted by fire.  

The Chapel survived and welcomes visitors.