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The church at Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purisima Concepción de Acuña is the oldest unrestored stone Catholic church in the US. Built on bedrock, the chapel was completed in 1755.

Some of the colorful frescos here were purely decorative, while others helped to teach Catholicism. Today, the few complete ones show a blend of Christian, Spanish, and Native artistic styles.

The largest of the San Antonio missions was founded in 1720 by Franciscan missionary, Father Antonio Margil de Jesús (see Father Margil, “Apostle of Texas” ). It has been restored to look like it did in 1790.

The huge flat-topped stone walls were built wide enough to house two-room apartments for indigenous families. By 1768, 350 Native Americans lived in the complex. The men worked in the fields, and in other trades necessary to sustain the mission.

In 1731, Mission San Francisco de la Espada was relocated from East Texas to its current location along San Antonio River. The church with its three-bell tower was completed in 1756. Franciscans live and work in the convento today.

Established in 1736, the mission was surrounded by fertile fields growing corn, beans, and sugarcane. By the mid-1700s it traded goods as far east as Louisiana, and south to Coahuila, Mexico.

Missionaries found that the acequias brought to Spain by the Romans and Moors also worked well in the Texan heat. Seven miles 11 km of acequias gave water to San Juan, and gateways controlled the water-flow.

The oldest continuously used Spanish-built diversion dam in Texas has provided water for irrigation since 1745. Engineered by Franciscan missionaries and built by the Native American converts the dam was originally 270 ft 82 m long and 8 ft 2 m high.

This was the only San Antonio mission where tiles and bricks were made. The bricks made here were of wide, thin, Roman style, and can still be seen in old walls and buildings. Most of the buildings were destroyed in a fire.

A remarkable engineering feat, this is the only Spanish colonial aqueduct in the US and was completed in 1745. Water diverted from the river flowed through an acequia, and entered the aqueduct to cross Piedras Creek. It continued on, to irrigate the fields of Mission Espada.