Mission San Juan Capistrano

Mission San Juan Capistrano was established as San Jose de los Nazonis in East Texas. In 1731 it was moved to its permanent home on the east bank of the San Antonio River. During the first decade of the mission the number of mission Indians was greatly reduced from 218 to 66 due to the epidemic of 1739. But by the end of 1740 the number had gone up to 169. By 1756 the mission had made great progress by building a church of stone, a friary, and a ton granary. By mid century Mission San Juan was a regional supplier of agricultural produce, due to great farm and pasturelands. In the irrigated fields’ corn, beans, squash, sweet potatoes and even sugar were grown. Also gardens of the mission provided peaches, melons, pumpkins, grapes and peppers. In 1762 the mission’s farm produced 1,600 bushels of corn and on the ranch there were 1000 head of cattle and 3,500 sheep. This mission as well as the others was a self-sufficient, and supported area settlements and the nearby presidio. In good times they traded surplus goods to others. The purpose of the mission always remained the same to covert Indians into Spanish European citizens.
The article I chose described the mission itself about the building of the church, the friary and the granary. It ties into what we have learned so far by including the fact that the missions survived by the acequia’s system for irrigation as well as everyday needs like bathing and drinking. The document also provided me with the historical information about the church that was started on the east side of the square but was only half completed due to the lack of Indian workers. The more I learn about the different missions I can see how they led to the beginning of the establishment of San Antonio.