DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. This is La Lomita Chapel, out in Hidalgo County, and friend, there is more history packed into this little place than most cities twice its size could claim. They call it La Lomita — The Little Hill — and the story reaches back further than Texas itself was Texas.
The land underneath it all came from a Spanish land grant, dated 1767, belonging to a man named Joseph A. Cántu. Nearly a century passed before those lands were donated, in 1861, to support the mission priests and their work — farms and ranches running the country, feeding the ministry, funding the charities.
That's the kind of patience a place like this runs on. Then, four years later, in 1865, a chapel went up. Not here — not yet.
It started as a campsite chapel, a stop on the old Brownsville-Roma trail, the kind of road where you needed both a good horse and a good prayer. That original chapel has been rebuilt or restored two or more times over the years. The Rio Grande Valley has a way of testing what you build, and what you believe.
By 1899 it had been relocated to this very site, settled in like it intended to stay. And here is where the story gets its kicker — five miles to the north, a city grew up. And that city, when it needed a name, looked south toward this little chapel, this significant landmark, and called itself Mission.
The town took its name from the chapel. Not the other way around. La Lomita came first, and everything else just caught up.
What the marker says
Lands for La Lomita ("The Little Hill") Mission came from the 1767 Spanish grant of Joseph A. Cántu, and were donated in 1861. Used as farms and ranches, the lands supported the priests and their charities. The original chapel, built in 1865 at a campsite on Brownsville-Roma trail has been rebuilt or restored two or more times. It was relocated at this present site in 1899. The city of Mission (5 mi. N), Texas, was named for this significant landmark. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964.