After a couple of weeks visiting friends and family in Houston, we headed west to San Antonio. Neither of us had ever visited nor been to the Alamo, the site of a renowned battle in the Texans’ Revolution against Mexico. After a little Googling, we learned that the Alamo was just one of a chain of five missions Spain established along the San Antonio River.

Over three days, we hiked nearly 20 miles along the San Antonio River Walk to all of the missions, learned about their histories, took lots of pictures, sampled the local cuisine, and did a little window shopping. But the weather was very hot, and by the time we were done with this history adventure, we were ready to move on to cooler climates and some real trails.

The San Antonio River Walk was our trail to visiting all of the missions. We walked about 10 miles of the 15-mile long path… twice! It was hot while we were there, but full of interesting things to see.

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The History of It All

As the major colonial power in the 1600s, Spain encouraged and financed the Catholic Church to establish numerous missions throughout Texas in order to extend its empire northward out of Mexico and defend against French encroachment from the Louisiana territory.

The San Antonio missions, established from 1690 to 1731, were run by Franciscan friars until the missions were “secularized” in 1824. Seeking to convert the local hunter-gatherer tribes, collectively called the Coahuitecans, the Franciscans also taught their recruits modern agriculture, weaving, building and blacksmithing skills. For the Coahuitecans, the fortified missions provided dependable food and, most importantly, protection from increasing attacks from Apaches and Comanches to the north. In essence, they traded away much of their traditional way of life and culture for survival.

After years of war, Mexico finally secured its independence from Spain in 1821. Shortly after, in 1824, Mexico ordered the Franciscans to cease its mission operations and turn over its lands and churches to the local inhabitants and the secular clergy.

Over the years, the missions fell into disrepair and were largely abandoned. However, the growing town of San Antonio eventually recognized the significance of the missions to its own culture and history, and in 1920 invited the Franciscans back to reestablish parishes at all of the churches, except for the Alamo of course. By 1930, several of the churches had been restored and continue today with regular services for the local catholic communities.

Other than the restored churches, the following decades saw the Alamo itself deteriorate at an alarming rate, while many of the other missions’ remaining structures and fortifications were in sorry shape. But in 1983, the National Park Service took over custody of the Alamo and the historic mission grounds around each of the operating churches, and established the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park.