Mission San José / La Misión de San José

Mission San José and its surrounding labores sustained a thriving community of Indians and Spaniards. Within the walls Indians lived, worshipped, and attended classes, where they learned blacksmithing, weaving on European looms, stonecutting, and making shoes and cotton clothes. Outside the walls, the mission Indians tended fields, orchards, and livestock. The population fluctuated greatly because of external threats and epidemics, and in some years approached 300. The missionaries aimed to teach local Indians to live and worship as Spaniards and ultimately to exist independently of the mission. A granary first recorded in 1755 stored enough maize to supply the mission population for a year, the acequia delivered water to the surrounding fields, and the church and convento, circa 1782, stood at the center of life at Mission San José, with some Indians living in rooms around the compound.

San Antonio, Texas · United States