The original objective of the 36 Spanish missions that were established in Texas between 1690 and 1793 was to help Spain cement a firmer foothold in this contentious frontier. Sure, the missionaries hoped to convert the local Indians to Christianity, but that aim was almost secondary to Spain's political agenda in the New World. The Spaniards figured that about ten years would be enough time to convince the natives to adopt European habits and so regarded the missions as temporary institutions.

So much for transience. Little did the Spaniards know that many of the missions (which, on the whole, failed miserably in most of their goals) would not only remain standing 300 years later, but would rank among the state’s most popular tourist attractions. The irony is that, although the Indians stubbornly resisted learning the ways of the Spanish, modern archeologists, tourists, and other history buffs flock to these fascinating, highly evocative structures to learn what life was like for European settlers and the natives they interacted with in 17th, 18th, and 19th-century Texas.

In June of this year, San Antonio kicked off Phase One of a $17.7 million project to make improvements to the city’s five historic missions, including schemes that will benefit the residents who live in the neighborhoods around the missions. One of the objectives of San Antonio’s Mission Trail Project is the construction of a 12-mile trail linking the city’s best-known mission, the Alamo (originally established in 1716 as Mission San Antonio de Padua and renamed Mission San Antonio de Valero in 1718) with four other missions, San José, Concepcíon, San Juan Capistrano, and San Francisco de la Espada, already included in an 850-acre national park. The trail linking the park to the Alamo will make it much easier for tourists to visit the missions, which San Antonio regards as the city’s "crown jewels."

Touring in person is really the best way to gaze through these haunting windows on Texas' past, but for those of you who just can't seem to find the time or scrape up the gas money, taking a virtual tour of the missions is an easy, cheap, and surprisingly educational alternative. There are several online options:

* To go straight to the mission of your choice, visit the official National Park Mission Trail Or you may choose to start at the Knowledge Trail link and visit the missions in designated order. If the browse encourages you to jump in the car and actually go there, this is the website to visit to learn the hours of operation, parking information, and all the other stuff that matters in real time.

*Cafe SA's virtual tour begins at the Alamo and eases navigation with ‘onward’ and ‘yonder’ buttons.

* "Mission Accomplished", from the December '94 issue of Texas Monthly, offers a pleasant and informative virtual tour of the four national park missions located in San Antonio, accompanied by a well-written commentary and attractive illustrations, plus links to other mission sites on the Web.

* For a tour through time, drop in at the Austin History page where you’ll learn, among other things, that three of San Antonio’s missions were relocated there from East Texas, where the Spanish began to feel unwelcome and nervous due, not only to the local Indian populace, but also to increasing incursions from their rivals, the French. The mission folks didn’t head straight to San Antonio, however. For a year (around 1730) they set up operation on the bluffs overlooking Austin's favorite swimming hole, Barton Springs -- proof that even missionaries recognized that an occasional cool respite in the shade of giant cottonwood and cypress trees would make doing the work of God and the king go a whole lot smoother.

(7/15/98)

The El Paso Mission Trail offers an elegantly designed, graphic-intensive, highly informative virtual tour of four of Texas' most historic missions. You’ll need the plug-ins RealPlayer and IPIX to do the tour, but if you've got the RAM and the patience to wait on the downloads, it’s well-worth the effort and, for Texans who live east of the Pecos, a lot easier than driving there.

More mission history and background can be found at the Birth of Texas, an Italian website.

Visit two famous Texas missions in the Goliad/Fannin area: Mission Rosario, and Mission Espiritu Santo, the longest continually-operated mission in Texas.

Read previous installments of Texana Ranger

If any readers find other worthwhile mission websites, let me know and I’ll post them in a future column.