The Other Spanish Missions

Although it's the most famous, The Alamo is only one of five Spanish Missions that were built in what is now the city of San Antonio. The other Missions run south from The Alamo every couple miles never far from the San Antonio River.

If you do visit San Antonio I recommend picking up the brochure San Antonio Missions available from any of the missions. It contains an excellent map and information about each mission.

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Mission Concepción

The first mission south of The Alamo is the mission of Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción. This mission was mostly just an old church from the mid-1700s. It was in pretty good shape but there wasn't much else to see on the grounds. The adjacent buildings had some simple displays about life on the Missions.

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Mission San José

The next mission south was probably the largest and most impressive. There was a large stone wall around the large grounds. Lining the inside of the wall were houses for the indians that lived at the mission. And finally there was a very large ornate church at the far end. This mission was originally called San José y San Miguel de Aguayo.

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Mission San Juan

The next mission San Juan Capistrano was also very nice. It also had a stone fence but also had a small church, nice statue outside the church as well as the ruins of an unfinished church.

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Espada Aqueduct

On the way to the final mission was this Espada Aqueduct, which I assume was part of the original aqueduct to supply fresh water to Mission Espada. It was the quickest visit and interesting to see.

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Mission Espada

The final and least impressive mission was named San Fracisco de la Espada. It consisted mostly of ruins around the perimeter and a small church at one side. There was also an apparently working convent on the site.

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