Lugar Inicial De Mision De Socorro

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place — and it is quite a story. Eighty years. That's how long the Spanish had occupied the land of the Pueblo people of northern New Mexico before those indigenous communities rose up and pushed them out.

Eighty years, and then — gone. The Spanish were expelled, and for twelve years they were not coming back. Now, when you get driven out of a place, you go somewhere.

The Spanish refugees, along with members of other tribes from New Mexico, followed the Rio Bravo to the southeast, and they kept going until they reached the area of El Paso del Norte. That's where they planted new roots. That's where they built missions and new settlements.

On the thirteenth of October, 1680, the Franciscans founded the Mision Santa Maria de Socorro del Sur. The exact original location, the marker will tell you plainly, is unknown. But by 1684, the residents of Socorro were gathering at a temporary sanctuary right here on this very ground.

And in 1691, they didn't settle for temporary anymore. A permanent mission church went up — dedicated as Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción de los Piros de Socorro del Sur. Adobe construction, roof held up by vigas.

About 183 meters to the northeast of that church sat a Piro indigenous settlement, and the community around it was a layered one: Spanish and Piro, but also Tano and Jemez people, all of them woven into this mission settlement together. They used this site for decades. The records say it was still in use into the 1740s — right up until a flood took it.

Just like that, gone again. The Rio Bravo has a way of reminding you who's really in charge out here. Then in 1829 another flood shifted the entire river course southward into Mexico, and the present-day Mission Socorro was built in the 1840s, 804.67 meters to the northeast of this original location.

For a long time, the full story of this place lay buried. Then, in the early 1980s, experts associated with the University of Texas at El Paso came out and started digging — carefully, methodically. What they found was something remarkable: the remains of the church walls, and those walls told a story all by themselves.

The church had been built in the shape of a cross. They also recovered other artifacts estimated to belong to the era of 1680. So here is where you stand.

This site — the initial location of the oldest known mission in Texas — is now protected as State Archaeological Landmark. The floods came. The river moved.

The centuries piled on. But the ground remembered everything.

What the marker says

Despues de 80 anos de ocupacion Espanola, el group indigena Pueblo del Norte de Nuevo Mexico, se alzo en contra de los Espanoles, expulsandolos por un lapso de 12 anos. Los refugiados Espanoles, asi como algunos miembros de otras tribus de Nuevo Mexico, siguieron el Rio Bravo hacia el sureste, llegando al area del Paso del Norte, donde establecieron misiones y nuevos asentamientos. El 13 de Octubre de 1680, fue fundada la Mision Santa Maria de Socorro del Sur por los Franciscanos, aunque el lugar original se desconoce. Para 1684, en este mismo lugar los residentes de Socorro acudian a un santuario temporal. En 1691 se construyo una mision iglesia permanente la cual fue dedicada como Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion de los Piros de Socorro del Sur. Su construccion era de adobe con vigas sosteniendo el techo. Un pueblo indigena Piro quedaba a aproximadamente 183 metros al noreste de la iglesia y el asentamiento misionero incluia Espanoles y Piros, asi como indigenas Tano y Jemez. Los registros indican que el sitio fue utilizado hasta la decada de 1740, cuando por inundacion fue destruido. El cauce del Rio Bravo cambio al sur hacia Mexico despues de una inundacion en 1829, y la actual Mision de Socorro fue construida en la decada de 1840 a 804.67 metros al noreste de este lugar. Expertos asociados con la Universidad de Texas en El Paso realizaron investigaciones arqueologicas a principios de los 1980. Sus hallazgos incluyen los restos de los muros de la iglesia, los cuales indican que esta fue construida en forma de cruz, asi como algunos otros artefactos que se estima pertenecen a la epoca de 1680. Hoy dia, el sitio inicial de la mision, la mas antigua mision conocida en Texas, es protegida como Patrimonio Arqueologico del Estado. (2004)