{"nrhp_refnum":"72001351","name":"Mission San Francisco de la Espada","other_names":["See Also:Mission San Francisco de la Espada (Boundary Increa"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Espada Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Antonio","county":"Bexar County","state":"TX","lat":29.317818431000035,"lon":-98.45026275364053,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-02-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Historic - Aboriginal","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Mission San Francisco de la Espada is a Spanish colonial mission complex in southeast San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, at the end of Espada Road. Stone buildings were begun by 1745, and the complex is partly ruined, partly reconstructed and partly restored.","why_significant":"It is one of the chain of missions founded in the 1730s along the San Antonio River to extend and hold the Spanish frontier. It keeps an unusual surviving fortified bastion and a chapel still in use, and is tied to the nearby Espada Aqueduct, the only extant Spanish aqueduct in the United States. Father Bartolome Garcia's 1760 confessional manual, written in Spanish and Coahuiltecan, preserves the only record of the mission Indians' language.","narrative":"Mission San Francisco de la Espada lies in southeast San Antonio and is the southernmost of the missions founded along the San Antonio River in the 1730s. Its first buildings were temporary, and permanent stone structures were underway by 1745. Today the site is partly ruined, partly reconstructed and partly restored. The small cross-shaped chapel, rebuilt through the efforts of Father Francis Bouchu after its walls collapsed, is still in use. A two-tiered bell wall, a convent, an arcade with rooms, Indian quarters, and the foundations of a 1762 church and a granary survive. A rubble bastion in the southeast corner is unique among the local missions. Father Bartolome Garcia's 1760 manual, published in Spanish and Coahuiltecan, preserves the only record of that language. The nearby Espada Aqueduct is the only extant Spanish aqueduct in the United States and remains in use. In 1835 the buildings served as a fortification for Texas forces.","period_of_significance":"18th Century (specific date 1731)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Partly in ruins, partly reconstructed and partly restored; the chapel is still used, and condition is marked good. The Archdiocese is maintaining the buildings and may restore more of the original complex.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.713486-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/72/9710/40971072/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/72001351.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001351/59c934f6e2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001351/59c934f6e2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Liveon001 © Travis K.Witt","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mission_Espada_Chapel2.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Liveon001 © Travis K.Witt</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mission_Espada_Chapel2.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"75001953","name":"Mission Parkway","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/mission-parkway-75001953/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971072","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_San_Francisco_de_la_Espada","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2393728"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bexar-county/mission-san-francisco-de-la-espada-72001351/"}