DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place — and friend, this story starts not here in Texas, but way up in New Mexico, with an explosion that shook the whole Spanish world. Eighty years. That's how long the Spanish had been occupying Pueblo Indian lands in northern New Mexico before 1680.
Eighty years is a long time to build up a grievance. And in 1680, the Pueblo Indians revolted. Drove the Spaniards out — not for a season, not for a year, but for twelve years.
That is not a skirmish. That is a reckoning. Now picture the refugees.
Spanish settlers and some members of the New Mexico tribes, all of them following the Rio Grande southeast, looking for somewhere to land. They found it in the El Paso del Norte area. And they got to work.
On October 13, 1680 — just weeks after that revolt had sent them running — the Franciscans founded a mission. They called it Mission Santa Maria de Socorro del Sur. The original site of that founding?
Unknown. Lost to time. But by 1684, the Socorro residents were already using a temporary church right here, at this very location.
Temporary, mind you — but a start. And by 1691, they had themselves a permanent mission church, and they gave it a name that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue in a hurry: Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion de los Piros de Socorro del Sur. Which the marker is kind enough to translate as Our Lady of Immaculate Conception of the Piros of the Socorro of the South.
Built of adobe, with vigas — wooden beams — holding up the roof. About 600 feet to the northeast stood a Piro Indian pueblo. The settlement itself was a mix of peoples: Spaniards and Piros, and also Tano and Jemez Indians, all of them building something together at the edge of a continent.
For decades, they held on. Records show the site was in use into the 1740s. And then the Rio Grande — patient, indifferent, and powerful — had its say.
Flooding destroyed the building. The river wasn't done either. In 1829, a flood shifted the entire channel of the Rio Grande south toward Mexico, redrawing the landscape.
The present Socorro mission was built in the 1840s, a half mile northwest of where we're standin' now. For a long time, this early site was just ground. Then, in the early 1980s, scholars from the University of Texas at El Paso came out and started digging.
What they found was extraordinary. The remains of church walls — and those walls revealed the church had been built on a cruciform plan, the shape of a cross laid into the earth. They also found artifacts dating as far back as the 1680s.
The very decade of the revolt. The very decade of the founding. Today this ground is protected as a State Archeological Landmark.
And the marker tells us something worth sitting with: this is the oldest known mission site in Texas. Not just old — the oldest known. Built by refugees, shaped by the Piros, held together for sixty-odd years against the current, and then swallowed by the river itself.
The Rio Grande moved on. The story stayed.
What the marker says
Following 80 years of Spanish occupation, Pueblo Indians in northern New Mexico revolted in 1680, driving out the Spaniards for a twelve-year period. Spanish refugees, as well as some members of the New Mexico tribes, followed the Rio Grande southeast to the El Paso del Norte area, where they established missions and new settlements. On October 13, 1680, the Franciscans founded Mission Santa Maria de Socorro del Sur. The original site is unknown. By 1684, the Socorro residents were using a temporary church at this location. A permanent mission church was constructed here by 1691 and dedicated as Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion de los Piros de Socorro del Sur, meaning "Our Lady of Immaculate Conception of the Piros of the Socorro of the South." The church was adobe construction, with vigas, or wooden beams, supporting the roof. A Piro Indian pueblo stood about 600 feet northeast of the church, and the mission settlement was comprised of Spaniards and Piros, as well as Tano and Jemez Indians. Records indicate the site was used until the 1740s, when flooding destroyed the building. After a flood in 1829, the channel of the Rio Grande shifted to the south toward Mexico, and the present Socorro mission was built in the 1840s one half mile northwest of this location. Scholars associated with the University of Texas at El Paso conducted archeological investigations in the early 1980s. Discoveries included the remains of church walls, indicating it was built on a cruciform plan, as well as artifacts dating to as early as the 1680s. Today, the early mission site, the oldest known mission site in Texas, is protected as a State Archeological Landmark. (2004)