Real Presidio de San Saba

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's what this ground remembers. Way back in 1751, a presidio took shape on the San Gabriel River. They called it the Presidio of San Francisco Xavier, and for a while that was enough.

But 1757 changed everything. That garrison picked up and moved to this very site, and it came with a new purpose: protection. Protection for the Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba, sitting out here in what was then a long, lonesome stretch of Texas.

The presidio took on a new name too. From 1757 to 1761 it answered to the Presidio de San Luis de Las Amarillas. That's a name with some weight to it, some ceremony.

And the soldiers working stone in the Texas heat, they were building something meant to last. That stone building was completed in 1761. Right around that same year, March of 1761 to be precise, the name shifted one final time.

From that point forward, it was the Real Presidio de San Saba. Three names, two locations, one long road from the San Gabriel River to this patch of Menard County ground. Some places keep changin' until they finally figure out what they are.

This one took until 1761 to get there, and then it stayed.

What the marker says

Originally established on the San Gabriel River as the Presidio of San Francisco Xavier in 1751 moved to the present site in 1757 as a protection to the Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba known as the Presidio de San Luis de Las Amarillas 1757-1761. After March 1761 the name was real Presidio de San Saba the stone building was completed in 1761.