By Samantha Gonzales
Image caption: The Three Missions By Brontë Procel
West Texas is exploding with rich history, humbly containing a nine-mile stretch of enriched land, The El Paso Mission Trail, in El Paso County’s Mission Valley. Historical sites along this trail include the Ysleta Mission, the Socorro Mission, and the San Elizario Presidio Chapel, exhibiting 17th-century architecture regionally.
Although history is plentiful, structures do not ascend the antiquity of churches in this region. These worship centers along the Mission Trail are diachronic, providing a motivational lesson in perseverance and community and an ability to marvel at history contained within unique architectural design.
Texas, notoriously a large state with most metroplexes to the east, consequentially disregards its oldest community, El Paso. El Pasoans know of larger city structures within the Mission Valley, such as Old El Paso County Jail Museum or Speaking Rock Entertainment Center. However, natives are not immune to disregarding the three historical missions within their city. Texans and visitors to the state should feel more compelled to visit Texas’s humble beginnings and envelop themselves in the lessons on culture and heritage that Mission churches provide.
Image caption: Ysleta Mission (Courtesy of Rawpixel, Wikimedia Commons)
Any community can experience a wide variety of cultures intermingling. Currently and historically, El Paso and the surrounding areas are no different. Before Spanish settlers arrived in El Paso, indigenous populations of Manso and Sumas people populated the area. They did not practice horticulture but survived off the land, eating small animals and plants already provided by nature, like prickly pears, commonly still growing today. The El Paso area eventually became home to Spanish, Mexican, Tigua, and other Native American cultures. Spanish settlers introduced European horticulture and incorporated European architecture in missions, also still evident today. These cultures gathered in missions to celebrate their faith and to preserve their heritage.
Community culture existed abundantly well before the arrival of Antonio De Espejo in 1583. Upon leading a Spanish expedition into areas just south of El Paso, welcoming tribal members of the Sumas tribe greeted travelers with substantial amounts of food. “The greater part was spoiled because the amount they gave us was so great,” Espejo claimed. Kindness was inherently unwavering when, in 1595, 500 Spanish settlers led by Don Juan de Oñate stumbled upon the local Mansos community. After a grueling journey, they were met with open arms and welcomed to stay by the river alongside the natives.
Fertile land contributed to the survival of the Mansos. Natives in the area used nearby salt flats as a public resource. Oñate, wanting to celebrate his newly claimed province, held a ceremony, a feast known as “The First Thanksgiving,” which may have been observed on April 30, 1598, with two cultures coming together as a community. Every November, Thanksgiving feasts recognize and celebrate the unity at Plymouth, Massachusetts, but Oñate’s Thanksgiving also marks the beginning of a long and rich history of unity, one that continues to be celebrated.
The three missions in the lower El Paso area were constructed by and served communities with various people for several reasons throughout their long histories. Ysleta Mission, built in 1682, having survived two severe floods and a fire, stands as the oldest active parish in Texas, providing the area with a place of worship and community. Socorro Mission, completed in 1691, brought many diverse people together who helped rebuild it and who buried loved ones on cemetery grounds. San Elizario Chapel, the most current structure, erected in 1789, had a wide variety of uses, such as “a military base, a place of worship, and most importantly, the birthplace of unions that keep San Elizario alive,” per the Los Portales Museum. Entering each mission is like walking back in time alongside various cultures that started the community.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the land surrounding these missions persevered through massive changes and strong forces. At one point, the land in and around El Paso was fertile, plentiful, and roared with wildlife. Fruits and vegetables were easily harvested, while orchards and vineyards were common. The San Elizario Museum states that grapes grew as big as lemons, that people around the country drank El Paso regional wine, and that wheat, barley, cotton, and alfalfa thrived. The Rio Grande kept them flourishing. Melting snow in the spring helped the crops grow, but an abundance of water comes at a price. The river gave the surrounding communities a lesson in perseverance, with frequent flooding devastating the communities and forcing citizens to continually rebuild. In 1740 and 1829, floods caused severe destruction, destroying the churches. The Rio Grande, once north of the churches, after the 1829 flooding, now faced south, placing three communities on its north side.
Adobe is El Paso’s way of preserving a culture that originated here. The three missions and some surrounding buildings are all built with adobe. Historical architecture preservation and production are essential when continuing or appreciating tradition. A tenacious community continuously built all facilities with adobe, a prevalent building method dating back to our ancestors, which still holds up today. People question the properties of adobe and its longevity in southwest communities. Adobe works well in dry regions such as El Paso, and when combined with dirt, clay, ashes, or all three, it adds greater stability. Ingredients required for construction were readily available. Adobe also provides sufficient insulation. However, after the advent of the railroad, foreigners arrived and frowned upon adobe. In an El Paso Matters interview, Historian David Dorado Romo argues that “[adobe was] seen as a backward material, a dirty material, a Mexican material. And there are these campaigns almost immediately to replace adobe.” Fortunately, not all adobe was destroyed, which has kept buildings intact.
Image caption: San Elizario Mission (Courtesy of Diocese of El Paso, Wikimedia Commons)
Ysleta Mission and San Elizario Chapel maintain similar facades and floor plans. They differ in that the Ysleta Mission’s bell tower added a silver dome to its front, but Native Americans built both. The native influence is more apparent throughout the Socorro Mission when comparing the facades. Socorro is also the most preserved, with its wooden beams painted by area natives. All three missions have roundedshaped windows with wooden windowsills and beautiful, mesmerizing altars. Each mission designed its pews similarly, rigid, with a cross on the side.
Currently, at the Ysleta Mission, a silver dome belfry honors and helps preserve the Native American culture. Above welcoming wooden doors stands a white statue of Saint Anthony. Visitors are greeted by old squeaky wooden floors many cultures and generations have walked on. Inside combines Christian elements with Native American features, differing from most Christian churches of today. Consideration and effort in involving everyone’s culture, including that of Spanish settlers and indigenous people, are apparent throughout the structure.
Inside sits statues of Saint Anthony and Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Native American saints worshipped in the community. The ceiling is constructed of wooden beams supporting much smaller beams, replicating how they stood 300 years ago. Pews are still adorned with crosses on each side. Paintings depicting various stages of Jesus’ crucifixion hang on walls. Cascading upward to a golden altar, to the left stands a historical statue vital to this church community, dating back to 1726, El Santo Entierro (the buried Christ). This statue traveled from Mexico, along the Rio Grande, to El Paso, and is displayed today during special events. Continuing left of the main altar stands the All-Saints Chapel, an area honoring all saints, including those of Native American culture.
The continuous rebuilding of the Ysleta Mission demonstrates persistence and determination in the surrounding community to keep their parish alive. The first act of faithful perseverance in building the Ysleta Mission resembles the Isleta Mission in New Mexico. Spanish and Native Americans fled present-day New Mexico during the Pueblo Revolt. The Tigua Pueblo, a Native American pueblo and a federally-recognized tribe in the Ysleta section of El Paso, established Ysleta del Sur in 1682. While keeping the parish alive, destruction came shortly after. In 1740, waters from the Rio Grande wiped out the Ysleta Mission. Four short years later, the community finished rebuilding the Ysleta Mission on new land.
In 1829, devastation again arrived. Water caused damage to all three missions, again washing away the Ysleta Mission. The El Paso Mission Trail Association says the community repaired the church and reopened it in 1851 on higher ground. Then in 1907, a fire consumed most of the church. This community, confronted with another opportunity to persevere, rebuilt the church with remaining intact adobe pieces and repaired the bell tower and the statue of San Antonio.
The missions provide a combination of Native American and Christian features, the most notable being Socorro Mission, which bears a different shape than Ysleta. The front facade resembles a bird. Considering natives did the construction, the resemblance might be intentional. The inside flooring is made of stone, replicating that of 300 years ago. Low ceilings are supported by vigas (ceiling beams), some of which were salvaged after the previous flood’s devastation. These beams were hand-hewn by native Americans out of cottonwood specific to the New Mexico area. Trees fell and floated downstream of the Rio Grande, where tribes collected and shaped the wood used to build. Beams support each other with paintings hanging from them. The Piro Indians painted beams with plant-based paints, leaving their presence for years to come. Select beams are newer, from the early 1900s, added during one of many rebuilding stages, and the altar, updated multiple times by past priests since 1881, shows adoration for their church. The walls are finished with adobe and plaster, reflective of 300 years ago. A clerestory window on the ceiling, supported by wooden beams dating back to 1840 and restored during a 2005 renovation, catches visitors’ eyes at the Socorro Mission. This unique window provides a ventilation system and extra sunlight into the church.
Image caption: Socorro Mission (Courtesy of GetArchive, Wikimedia Commons)
On the outside grounds behind the Socorro Mission stands the Lourdes Grotto, honoring Our Lady of Lourdes in France. Built by Father Gerard Decorme, it adds a French feature to an already diverse church. Constructed in 1891, the cemetery has Native American and Italian roots. Within the cemetery, there are four open portables built by Italian Jesuit Alessandro Leon.
Although records show that Socorro held mass services in 1680, the permanent structure was completed in 1691 by community members. Like Ysleta, the Socorro Mission has been through a few chapters of perseverance. The Rio Grande picking no favorites, the flood of 1740 washed away the Socorro Mission and surrounding areas. Wisely, locals rebuilt the mission in a new location after the flooding of 1829 again devastated the region, resulting in reconstruction efforts that continued until 1843.
The origin days of the Presidio Chapel of San Elizario witnessed numerous conflicts. Unfortunate events influenced a tight-knit community to preserve a safe space to celebrate unions and faith. Built as a military fort with an attached chapel in 1789, San Elizario grew, quickly becoming a thriving farming community and becoming the first seat of the El Paso County government in 1850. The chapel was finally completed in 1882, only to catch fire in 1935. With repeated reconstruction came dramatic interior changes to the mission.
Chapel property and surrounding areas reflect cultures embedded in the ground these structures were built upon. San Elizario’s outside appearance has changed little since it was first built, as it makes a statement of its origins while elevated to higher ground. The El Paso Mission Trail Committee explains that patterns, marking streets around chapel grounds, “reflect elements of Spanish colonial town planning.” The outside walls are whitewashed adobe paired with a beautiful, aged-wood front door, hinting at its years.
The inside of the chapel has seen drastic changes since its original construction. The community persevered through the devastation caused by flooding in 1829. Waters destroyed the chapel, requiring that it, too, be rebuilt. The urgency to rebuild might not have been a high pressing priority after the importance of presidios diminished when Mexico won its independence, says the Mission Trail Association. A fire in 1935 damaged the interior, calling for updates to several areas. Wooden ceilings or beams have not been covered during renovations. They are made of colorful pressed-tin tiles, with designs of blue and yellow with a soft cream backdrop. Wooden columns are covered by decorative posts. Tall ceilings and extra seating accommodate larger gatherings, ensuring the chapel’s significance above others.
Each church continuously serves its local communities in the present day. Not only do these churches hold mass, but they also hold events in honor of their heritage. Ysleta Mission features the Ysleta Mission Festival, a yearly music festival held on the second weekend of July for nearly a century on the historic grounds of the 337-year-old mission. Local musicians and vendors create an authentic southwest experience. Festival activities include music, games, arts and craft, and cultural dances. Ysleta Mission also holds a yearly “powwow” festival every summer, celebrating the feast of Saint Anthony, with a morning mass followed by traditional dancing. The Socorro Mission holds its annual festival in September, a family-friendly event rich in culture, food, and carnival rides. Mariachis perform and enrich audiences with local culture.
The San Elizario Chapel still hosts religious ceremonies and weddings. Every September a celebration is held for the chapel’s patron, Saint of Elceario, with a much-anticipated festival serving authentic food and fun activities like carnival rides. San Elizario also offers ceremonial dances in the plaza. The San Elizario Chapel community hosts many local artists who hold events showcasing regional art.
Each mission lights luminarias and gently places them on its historical floors. El Paso local catholic churches follow suit and light luminarias, a tradition carried into our modern era.
The El Paso Mission Trail Association is dedicated to promoting the historic nine-mile spread between Ysleta, Socorro and San Elizario. Its focus is on education, preservation and tourism. As part of the larger El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, the Mission Trail serves as a portal to one of the most historical areas in the binational region. Now is the time to traverse through this portal and learn about the origins of Texas, more importantly, three historical and culturally filled Missions: Ysleta, Socorro and San Elizario.
Borderland Treasures: Exploring the Socorro Mission
