Mission San Juan de Capistrano, Berg's Mill-Graf Road, San Antonio

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS TEX,15-SANT.V,3-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Roman Catholic Church - Archdiocese of San Antonio- Archbishop Drossaerts. Date of Erection; Founded on its present site March.5, Architect; Unknown Builder: Franciscan Friars and Indian neophytes Present Condition: The mission is now in ruins. Only a few walls of the quadrangle and the church are now stand- ing. The granary is in better condition than any other of the buildings, but it. has been par- tially rebuilt to allow church services to be held in it. All that is left of the church is the South, wall which has three arches above the roof line and was used as belfry. San Juan Capistrano was originally founded as SanJfose ds los Nazones, July 10, East of the Angelina River about twenty miles northwest of Nacogdoches, for the Naaoni and Nadaco Indians.

It 'was abandoned in and reestablished on August 13, On March 5, it was estab- lished on river about six miles south of San Antonio on its present site and its name changed to San Juan de Capistrano in honor of Giovanni do Capistrano, an Italian who formed a crusade against the Turks.at Belgrade, and who was canonized in Number of Stories: The church is two stories, convent, Indian quarters, etc., 1 story. Materials of Construction: The mission was built of limestone known as "Tufa Stone", the walls being three to four feet thick, the roof of vaulted stone, the floor being flagstone and hard tanped dirt. The Indian quarters, that were built of wood, have long since vanished. The church services are held In the rebuilt granary. The interior finish on nails and ceilings was rihite plaster.

m Other Existing Records: "San Antonio de Bexar, "William Corner "Texas in the Middle Century, H.E. Bolton "Indians and Missions, Frederick C. Chabot "Report of Padre Juan Morfi Deeds and records HAB3 No. Tex-3Sl Page 2 in the custody of Dr. Carlos Oastanedo. Garcia Library, University, of Texan, Austin, Texas. % Additional Data: --- 3 , A description of San Juan is quoted from "San Antonio do Bexar by William Corner: "The spacious church was constructed in a different manner from the other missions in that it was built into and formed a part of the boundary or rampart wall. It had a tower with three arches which formed the belfry, part of which is still standing.

The little convent was composed of four cells, a corridor, two offices, refectory, kitchen and isorkshop.n An exerpt from Fray Juan Morfi's report of gives a few additional facts about San Juan Capistrano. "A little more than a league froa the mission of San Jose is the mission of San Juan Capis- trano, originally established in the lard of the Texas (Indians) but moved to this place toge-ther with "that of Concepcion. The church is neat and in good order though it (toes not compare with those described as to the buildings (of the other missions). The convent has four cells with a gallery, two offices, a refectory* kitchen and workshop. The pueblo or Indian quarters does not compare either to those of the preceding ones.

The mission was founded wiih Orejones, Sayopines, Pamagues and Piguiques. From the time of the establishment to there was 847 baptisms and 645 burials, there being 51 families with 03 persons that year. But like the others, it has steadily declined each year." Credit is given to Harvey P. Smith, A.I.A. for dates and des- criptive data. Credit is given Frederick C. Chabot for data on origi- nal founding of San Juan Capistrano. Credit is given Dr. Carlos E. Castanedo for the exerpt of Fray Juan Morfi's report. Author: (-*^C&tC~frCsC*>Pi^4 APPROVED: __ Bartlett Cbcke, District Officer Date June 29, y Addendum to: Mtsston San Juan De Capistrano HABS No.

Berg's Mill-Graf Road Berg's Mill" Community Uf^ San Antonio Bexar County Texas trr..c^jsr^I J Originally recorded as: Mission San Juan De Capistrano San Antonio Texas PHOTOGRAPHS WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA Historic American Buildings Survey National Park Service Department of the Interior Washington, f/3 HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY ADDENDUM TO: MISSION SAN JUAN DE CAPISTRANO HABS No. location: Berg's Mill-Graf Road, Berg's Mill Community, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS TEX,15-SANT.V,3-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

_ First established in then relocated in on its present site, the Mission San Juan is one ox five extant mission complexes in San Antonio dating from the eighteenth century. These buildings are of great significance to the study of colonial Texas history, providing the observer some concept of that frontier institution which helped to contribute to the development of Texas. In addition, the buildings at San Juan are important architecturally as physical evidence of building practices and techniques of the Spanish colonial period as employed by the Franciscan Fathers. PART

Historical Information

The territory comprising the present state of Texas was of little concern to the Spanish authorities until the middle of the seventeenth century, and it was not until that the first formal missionary activity in Texas occurred, the entrada of Fernando del Bosque and Father Juan Larios, a Franciscan from Santiago de Jalisco, who performed the first verified celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Motivated by reports of French activity in Texas, notably the settlement of St. Louis by la Salle, the Spanish authorities sent several expeditions into the territory with varying degrees of success culminating in with the founding of the first Texas mission, San Francisco de los Tejas on the Neches River.

The early mission effort was aborted in and it was not until that the Spanish officials saw fit to re-establish and encourage expanded missionary effort in the territory. The Domingo Ramon Expedition which began its journey to Texas on February 17, established four missions in east Texas: San Francisco, Concepcion, Guadalupe and San Jose. The following year Father Margil succeeded in establishing two additional missions farther east Dolores and San Miguel as well as the Presidio of Dolores. These missions were under the split authority of the Franciscan friars of the College of Queretara and the College of Zacatecas. MISSION SAN JUAN DE CAPISTRANO HABS No. (Page tf. That authority lasted until and the Queretaran missions were turned over to the Zacatecans.

The reason for the change was the expulsion of the Jesuits, which caused closing of the missions in Mexico that the Quertarans were induced to take up. Numerous difficulties beset the east Texas missions culminating in the withdrawal of troops from the Delores Presidio in the year after which the Queretarans requested permission to abandon their three missions and to be permitted to remove to the more convenient location at San Antonio. Although the written history of the mission is scant, it appears that the development of the San Juan followed the general trend of the other San Antonio missions and that the first structures erected were in the native Indian fashion of upright poles or pallings set in the ground and daubed with mud and covered by a thatched roof.

Fifteen years after its refounding the mission was still without a permanent church building. In a brief report written in it was recorded that the building serving as a church was constructed of "brush and mud with a thatched roof of straw." The building was given some pretension, however, as it had some form of a bell tower complete with bells. At some point during the decade between and the present chapel building was completed. It was described in a report of as being a simple rectangular building measuring approximately 19 feet wide and 80 feet in length. The walls were reported to be of stone and lime mortar and the roof carried by hewn beams. Also by the stone convent had been enlarged. {It was built ca.1744).

It was described as having three private rooms, an office, a refectory and a kitchen. The form of the San Juan Church followed the model of the sixteenth century Mexican monastic church. This late reproduction of a sixteenth century parti caught the eye of the Fray Morfi on his visit in He recorded that the church, although neat and in good order, differed in appearance from other mission churches.

Morfi also recorded that the convent by that time consisted of "four cells with a gallery, two offices, refectory, kitchen and workshop." The gallery which faced onto the plaza was erected prior to The pueblo or Indian quarters, temporary shelters of brush and mud erected along the east and west walls of the mission plaza, were unchanged by the time of Morfi's visit, for he related that they did not "compare" with those of the other missions which were of masonry construction. By the time of Morfi's visit the mission population had begun to decline, which was also occuring in other missions in San Antonio. This decline during the latter part of the century was the result of disease, plague, and attacks by the Apaches and the Oomanches.

San Juan's population in was 265 and was reduced to 203 by In the number reached 99 and six years later to a low of 58. MISSION SAN JUAN DE CAPISTRANO HABS No. (Page By that time work on the large mission church, a stone edifice begun in the late had to be abandoned, due to the lack of workmen. Only the foundations and parts of the walls were finished. In San Juan, which like the other San Antonio missions had been transferred to the authority of the College of Zacatecas, was partially secularized in compliance with the decree of Pedro de Nava, the Commandante General of the Interior Provinces of New Spain. Although the mission land and property were distributed to the resident Indians, it appears that the Friars continued to serve the mission.

From this time on, however, they were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Linares as all the other Parish priests. Ihe San Juan mission was virtually abandoned from about until At the latter date, the Reverend John M. Odin initiated a revival of the Catholic Institutions of Texas and in the process attempted to utilize the old Mission properties. San Juan appears to have been in use during the mid-nineteenth century but was again abandoned until when the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of undertook the reconstruction of the chapel building. The chapel has been in use since and within the last year reconstruction of several of the adjacent houses has been carried out. PART II. SOURCES OF INFORMATION Corner, William. San Antonio De Bexar, A Guide and History.

San Antonio, Texas: Bairibridge and Corner, December 25, Parisot, P. F. and Smith, C. J., eds. History of the Catholic Church, in the Diocese of San Antonio, Texas. San Antonio: Carrico and Bowen, , Archdiocese of San Antonio, San Antonio: Schneider Printing Company, Chabot, F. C. Mission la Purissima Concepcion San Antonio: The Naylor Company, Chabot, F. C, ed. Excerpts From The Memories For The History of the Province of Texas by Padre Fray Juan Augustin de Morfi. San Antonio: The Naylor Printing Company, Habig, M.A., "San Juan Chapel...", article, San Antonio Express, March 4, Heusinger, Edward W. Early Explorations and Mission Establishments in Texas. San Antonio: The Naylor Company, Prepared by: John C. Garner, Jr.

Director, Bexar County Architecture Survey January MISSION SAN JUAN DE CARISTRANO HABS No. (Bage/ )(. # PART III- SOURCES OF INFORMATION The San Antonio project was undertaken by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in the summer of and was made possible with funds from HABS and two sponsors, the Bexar County Historical Survey Committee and the San Antonio Conservation Society. Under the direction of James Massey, chief of HABS, the project was carried out by Wesley I. Shank (Iowa State University), project supervisor, and by student assistant architects, Charles W. Barrow (University of Texas); Les Beilinson (University of Miami); William Hr Edwards (University of Illinois); and larry D.

Hermsen (Iowa State University) at the HABS field office in the former Ursuline Academy buildings, San Antonio. John C. Garner, director of Bexar County Architecture Survey, did the outside work on the written documentaries. Susan McCown, a HABS staff historian in the Washington, office, edited the written data in for preparation of transmittal to the Library of Congress. Dewey G. Mears of Austin, Texas took the documentary f*iotograi*is of the San Antonio structures. The photographs of the mission complex are part of the San Antonio Missions project, which was sponsored by the Southwest Regional Office, National Park Service. John Lowe of the HABS/HAER Office, Washington, took the photographs. # Vi \ >\iV"' Addendum to HABS No.

Mision San Juan de Capistrano (San Juan Mission) Berg's Mill - Graf Road San Antonio HASS Bexar County Texas i REDUCED COPIES OF MEASURED DRAWINGS Historic American Buildings Survey National Park Service Department of the Interior Washington, DC ADDENDUM TO HABS No, MISSION SAN JUAN DE (San Juan Hi.ssi.on ) HABS Berg's Mi 11-Graf Road, TEX Berg ' s Mi I 1 Ca?mnun i t y San An tamo Be;<ar Caun tv I5-5AHTV Te x as 3- -no ;cr ru/ >" -:- = * r "RANSPARLNL