Mission San Juan Capistrano (originally christened in 1716 as La Misión San José de los Nazonis and located in East Texas) was founded in 1731 by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order, on the eastern banks of the San Antonio River in present-day Bexar County, Texas. It is about six miles from the Alamo.
The first primitive capilla (chapel) was built out of brush and mud. Eventually a campanile, or "bell tower" containing two bells was incorporated into the structure, which was replaced by a long hall with a flat roof and an attractive belfry around 1756. Around 1760 construction of a larger church building was begun on the east side of the Mission compound, but was never completed due to the lack of sufficient labor. Mission San Juan did not prosper to the same extent as the other San Antonio missions because lands allotted to it were not sufficient to plant vast quantities of crops, or breed large numbers of horses and cattle; a dam was constructed in order to supply water to the Mission's acequia, or irrigation system. (the Mission reportedly owned 1,000 head of cattle, 3,500 sheep and goats, and 100 horses in 1762). The outpost was also subjected to frequent Indian attacks.
Some 265 neophytes resided in adobe huts at the Mission in 1756; by 1790 the natives were living in stone quarters, though their number had dropped to 58.
Flat Standley thought the bells were really neat, but they were not ringing.
The first primitive capilla (chapel) was built out of brush and mud. Eventually a campanile, or "bell tower" containing two bells was incorporated into the structure, which was replaced by a long hall with a flat roof and an attractive belfry around 1756. Around 1760 construction of a larger church building was begun on the east side of the Mission compound, but was never completed due to the lack of sufficient labor. Mission San Juan did not prosper to the same extent as the other San Antonio missions because lands allotted to it were not sufficient to plant vast quantities of crops, or breed large numbers of horses and cattle; a dam was constructed in order to supply water to the Mission's acequia, or irrigation system. (the Mission reportedly owned 1,000 head of cattle, 3,500 sheep and goats, and 100 horses in 1762). The outpost was also subjected to frequent Indian attacks.
Some 265 neophytes resided in adobe huts at the Mission in 1756; by 1790 the natives were living in stone quarters, though their number had dropped to 58.
Flat Standley thought the bells were really neat, but they were not ringing.
