Socorro Mission (Mission Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción del Pueblo de Socorro) -- Spanish Colonial Missions of the Southwest Travel Itinerary

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Socorro Mission (Mission Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción del Pueblo de Socorro)
Socorro, Texas
Coordinates: 31.660086, -106.303474
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Spanish Colonial Missions of the Southwest Travel Itinerary

Painted and carved vigas and patterned latillas form the church’s roof.

Photo by Lisa Jacobs. Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

Socorro Mission or Mission Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción del Socorro is located near Mission Ysleta in Socorro, Texas, along the Rio Grande River near what is today the border between Mexico and the United States. The original Franciscan mission, Nuestra Señora de la Concepción del Socorro, was founded in 1682 by the Franciscan order to serve displaced Pueblo Indians (the Piro, Tano and Jèmez) from New Mexico who fled during the Pueblo Revolt. Mission Socorro is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a Texas State Landmark, a "living" mission that continues to be an active Roman Catholic parish church serving the local community.

Fleeing the Pueblo Revolt

In northern New Mexico the 1680 Pueblo Revolt successfully drove Spanish colonists and their native allies from the region by 1682. The Spanish governor, Antonio de Otermín, fled with around 2,000 Spanish settlers to El Paso. Franciscan missionaries and Pueblo refugees founded the new Socorro pueblo, or town, and mission along the south side of the Rio Grande River. An earlier Mission Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe was established in the mid-1600s for the local Manso Indians. The new Mission Socorro founded in 1682 was meant to serve the diverse community of Piro, Tano, and Jèmez who were displaced by the Pueblo Revolt.

Plan of Mission Socorro.

By Donald Weichlein, Historic American Building Survey. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Socorro Mission was situated close to the Rio Grande in an area where the river channel fluctuated, which caused the mission to be washed away and destroyed twice, once in 1740 and again 1829. The location the mission occupied from the 1680's to 1740 is known and has been the subject of several archeological investigations spearheaded by the Texas Historical Commission. Archeologists and volunteers found evidence of the cemetery and the mission's adobe architecture. Recently, researchers have been exploring the area with ground penetrating radar looking for evidence of native housing and investigating whether or not the Piro pueblo at the Texas site is similar in organization and in the same style as villages in Socorro, New Mexico, the Piro area of origin.

View of the modern Mission Socorro in El Paso, TX

NPS photo.

What you can see today

The present mission church at Socorro was built after the 1829 flood changed the course of the Rio Grande destroying the mission and the pueblo and put Socorro on the side of the river that would become part of the United States. Constructed c. 1840, the Socorro Mission church is of adobe surfaced with stucco. Perhaps the most recognized native design element is the church's tall, south-facing facade, an addition in the 1880s. A small window, two statuary niches and a belfry embellish the facade's broad horizontal span, yet its unembellished stair-stepped effect makes the biggest impression. The church is particularly notable for its interior. The ceiling is held up by finely painted and carved decorated cottonwood and cypress wooden beams or vigas salvaged from the 18th-century mission building and reused. Inside are a choir balcony and a statue of St. Michael, the patron saint of the community, carved early in the 1800s. Legend has it that in 1838 the statue was being moved from Mexico to a church in northern New Mexico on an ox cart when the wagon bogged down on the site of the Socorro Mission and couldn't be moved. The people believed that this was a sign from St. Michael that he wanted a shrine constructed at the site in his honor. The massing, details and use of decorative elements of the Socorro Mission show strong relationships to the building traditions of 17th-century Spanish New Mexico.

View of the choir loft of Mission Socorro, 1936.

Photo by Marvin Eickenroht, Historic American Building Survey. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Through time the pueblo of Socorro became an agricultural community growing cotton fed by the waters of the Rio Grande. Over the years, the church has been administered by Franciscan monks, by Diocesan priests, and by Italian and Mexican Jesuits. Today, the building is still part of an active Roman Catholic community.

Visitors can enjoy Socorro Mission, now a centerpiece in the region's cultural heritage initiatives. The community launched a full-scale church restoration making of 22,000 adobes to stabilize walls, repair the bell tower, and conserve the interior. The preservation work allows the building to remain a treasured part of the American historic landscape.

Socorro Road (FM 258), which runs from Ysleta to Socorro to San Elizario, is the designated Mission Trail, a 9-mile section of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (Royal Road of the Interior), the National Historic Trail that extended from Mexico City to Santa Fe, linking Spanish and native settlements. It is the oldest and once was the longest road in North America.

Plan Your Visit

Socorro Mission is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a Texas State Landmark located at 328 S. Nevarez Rd. south of El Paso, TX on I-10 at Moon Rd. and FM 258. It is open to the public Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 4:00pm. For more information, visit the Catholic Diocese of el Paso website or call 915-859-7718. The Socorro Mission is located along the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail. The Socorro Mission has also been documented by the National Park Service’s Historic American Buildings Survey and is featured in the National Park Service El_Camino_Real_de_Tierra_Adentro/Socorro_Mission Travel Itinerary and the South and West Texas Travel Itinerary.

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