El Paso’s Mission Trail

By Gerald C. and Sharon L. Hammon

December 2014

That left shoulder of Texas — the point that reaches farthest west and is flanked by New Mexico and Mexico — is where the town of El Paso resides.

If you are thinking of putting El Paso in your travel plans, you will be in good company. In fact, folks have been doing that for a very long time. We should note, however, that the first European visitors weren’t snowbirds heading south to escape winter. They actually came from the south, setting out from Santa Barbara, Chihuahua, Mexico, in January of 1598, nine years before the Jamestown colony was established and 22 years before the pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock.

You could say those visitors formed the first caravan to visit the El Paso area. There were 500 in that party: soldiers, their wives, and children; Franciscan monks; Indians; and servants. The “wagon master” was a wealthy nobleman, Juan de Onate, who had been chosen by the Spanish colonial government to lead the expedition north to establish new settlements in a land that had only been thinly explored by Spanish gold-seekers.

The caravan included more than 80 carts and wagons, as well as livestock. According to contemporary accounts, it was almost two miles long as it made its way north across the Chihuahuan Desert. On April 30, 1598, Onate and his company reached the Rio Grande and claimed the lands north of the river for King Phillip II of Spain. The spot was near where one of the three missions on the trail, San Elizario, was built.

Onate didn’t end his trip there. He led his caravan along the river until they reached a place where they could cross (modern El Paso stands there now), and then traveled northward, following the river to San Juan Pueblo in northern New Mexico, where they settled.

So why should this be an incentive to put El Paso on your destination list, particularly if Onate and his caravan didn’t hang around? Because Onate’s visit was the first of a string of events that made El Paso and the surrounding area a fascinating place to explore today.

El Paso Mission Trail follows Onate’s route from San Elizario to the river-crossing site, and if you spend time along it, you’ll hear other fascinating stories from history. The two old churches and a chapel along the Mission Trail are worth a visit as well.

Onate’s caravan didn’t settle in the area around El Paso, but the river-crossing location they used became part of the King’s Highway north to San Juan Pueblo and later up to Santa Fe.

Settlement around El Paso is usually traced to a revolt by the Pueblo Indians, who the Spaniards forced to convert to Christianity. In 1680, New Mexico exploded in a well-planned simultaneous attack, when the Indians burned churches and homes and slaughtered Spaniards wherever they found them. About 2,000 Spaniards escaped and, along with some Christian Indians, they raced back toward the Rio Grande crossing and to safety.

The Christians settled primarily in the villages of Ysleta and Socorro, located a few miles apart along the Mission Trail. Missions were established in both villages in the fall of 1680, and by the early 1690s, “permanent” church structures were built. The troubles they endured were remarkably similar. In 1740, the Rio Grande went on a flooding rampage, and both churches were destroyed. They were rebuilt, but in 1829 the river erupted in another disastrous flood.

El Paso Mission Trail is east of downtown El Paso, with all three missions on Socorro Road. Seeing them all involves a nine-mile drive. To obtain information and maps, start at the Mission Valley Visitors Information Center (9065 Alameda Ave.; 915-851-9997).

Ysleta Mission. The Tigua (pronounced TEE-wah) Indian parishioners at Ysleta didn’t complete their replacement church until 1851. While the river hasn’t caused further problems, a fire nearly destroyed the church in 1907. The undamaged sacristy and remaining adobe walls were used in the reconstruction. The sanctuary of Mission Ysleta, like the church at Socorro, offers a distinctive American Indian feel in its art and decorations, and the church remains a focal point for the community. Ysleta is the first and oldest mission in Texas, and the second-oldest continually active parish in the United States.

In addition, the Tigua Indians have built an attractive cultural center about a mile south of the church off Socorro Road. Indian dances take place there on Saturdays and Sundays, and you can also see the traditional Pueblo method for baking bread. A museum at the cultural center contains beautiful reminders that the Tiguas are part of the Pueblo Indian culture and share in their talent for creating stunningly beautiful pottery. In addition, the clothing displayed is elegant.

As you travel southeast along the Mission Trail, you reach Socorro Mission next. Both Socorro and Ysleta missions are active Roman Catholic parishes, but they welcome visitors with regular hours during the day (as well as during Mass).

After the 1829 flood, parishioners at Socorro started a reconstruction, which was completed by 1843; the building was extensively restored from 1995 to 2005. In the sanctuary, our attention immediately was drawn to the ceiling and the aged, decorative, carved roof supports called vigas, as well as the corbels supporting the vigas. These came from the first church, built in 1691, and they are the oldest mission relics in Texas.

In the gift shop located just off the sanctuary, we were told the story of the statue of St. Michael. In 1838, the statue was being transported elsewhere when the cart became mired in mud right outside the church. The teamsters couldn’t budge the wagon, so the statue was taken into the church to keep it out of the rain. When time came to load up the statue and resume the journey, the doorway proved too narrow to remove it. Of course, they had easily gotten the statue into the church. They took it as a sign that the statue wished to remain there, and you can see it today to the left of the chancel in a place of honor.

San Elizario Presidio and Chapel, located where Onate first reached the Rio Grande, was built in 1789 as a military fort to protect the interests of the Spanish king. The chapel was intended primarily to serve the Spanish military; as such, there is a difference in its physical orientation: it faces west, while the churches in Socorro and Ysleta face east, in deference to Indian custom. We also found it interesting that in the stunning chancel, Jesus was not portrayed on the cross as he is in most Roman Catholic sanctuaries.

As with the two mission churches on the trail, the original chapel at Elizario was destroyed by the flood of 1829. A replacement eventually was deemed inadequate for the growing community, so the current chapel was erected in 1882. Fire damaged the interior in 1935, but the exterior remains much as it did when first built.

Although the small community of San Elizario had its beginnings much later than Ysleta or Socorro, we found it a real treat to visit. Here, you sense the influence of Anglo-Americans alongside the Hispanic culture. Many of the structures have the ambiance of the old Mexican villages across the border.

While your footsteps inevitably will be directed to the old chapel first, your second stop should be immediately across the street at Los Portales Museum and Information Center. Don Gregorio Garcia, a prominent local citizen, built Los Portales as a residence in the 1850s, and he donated it to the community for use as a school in 1870. The school’s first teacher went on to become governor of New Mexico and later a U.S. senator. The building was renovated in 2000.

Director Eloisa Levario enhanced our visit by ensuring we learned about the people who guided San Elizario’s and Texas’ transition from a Spanish backwater to a part of the United States. The Mexican-American War from 1846-1848 forced the two nations to choose a border. The Rio Grande was a natural barrier, but as old-timers knew, it seldom stayed in one place. When Onate arrived, Ysleta, Socorro, and San Elizario were all on the south side of the river. By 1848, the river had shifted and the principal channel was to the south of the three settlements, placing all of them in the United States. Onate would have been thoroughly confused.

All in all, we think Don Juan de Onate would have been astounded at all that took place as a result of his brief stop along the Rio Grande River. If you explore this area, we believe you will be delighted at the history and culture you will find along the EI Paso Mission Trail. You might even end up pitying Onate that he didn’t stay.

While all three missions can be visited in a day, we think you will enjoy exploring at a more leisurely pace. Two RV parks (Mission RV Park, 1420 RV Drive, 915-859-1133; and Roadrunner RV Park, 1212 Lafayette Drive, 915-598-4469) are located on the south side of El Paso proper, within 30 minutes or less from El Paso Mission Trail. We do recommend leaving your motorhome in the RV park and exploring with your car or truck. While parking is available at San Elizario Chapel and at Socorro Mission, it is limited. And streets are narrow and winding, because they’ve been in place for a long time.

The Mission Valley Visitors Information Center is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays; 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekends. To obtain hours of operation and other information for all the sites mentioned, we recommend visiting www.visitelpasomissiontrail.com and downloading a trail brochure.

For details about El Paso, including its many museums, historical sites, and other attractions, contact:

One Civic Center Plaza

El Paso, TX 79901

(800) 351 6024

(915) 534-0600