The Historic Missions of El Paso: Spanish Footprints on the Border

Eight missions founded 1659–1716 trace Spain’s colonial presence in the Pass of the North (El Paso/Ciudad Juárez):

1. Mission Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (1659) – Founded by Fray García de San Francisco. Original site in Ciudad Juárez; rebuilt 1680 within modern El Paso. Oldest continuously active parish in Texas.
2. Mission San Antonio de la Ysleta (1682) – Fray Alonso de Posada & Fray Juan de Zavaleta. Tigua (Tiwa) pueblo; now Ysleta del Sur Pueblo.
3. Mission San José (1691) – Fray Antonio de Acevedo & Fray Juan Cabellero. “Mission of the Humble and Conceived.”
4. Mission Nuestra Señora de Socorro (1682) – Fray Nicolás López. 20 mi west of Socorro, TX.
5. Mission Senecú (1680s) – Across Rio Grande from Canutillo, TX; relocated due to flooding. Now in Chihuahua, Mexico.
6. Mission San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz (1691) – Fray Ildefonso Garfías. Ruins in Cordova Island Archeological Park, Fort Bliss.
7. Mission San Francisco de la Soledad (1680s) – Between Clint and Fabens, TX.
8. Mission Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (1716) – Manso pueblo across from El Paso; destroyed 1781 by Apache raid.

These missions anchored agriculture, conversion, and Spanish claim—forming the cultural bedrock of the borderlands.