San Clemente Mission

Juan Domínguez de Mendoza, leader of the 1683-84 expedition, was born in 1631 and went to New Mexico at age twelve, the Handbook of Texas says. In 1654 he rode with Diego de Guadalajara's expedition from Santa Fe to the joining of the three Conchos, and on two journeys he probably saw more of the Texas plains than any earlier Spanish explorer. As lieutenant general he helped counter the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. After San Clemente he and Fray Nicolás López went to Mexico City to urge a Jumano settlement as a barrier against the Apaches.

What the plaque says

The first mission known to have been established in Texas east of the Pecos River, San Clemente was a hastily built, two-room structure located on a hill about 17 miles south of present Ballinger. (Some historians place the site farther south, near Junction.) Although earlier than the great Spanish mission movement, this was one of the first (1684) in Texas and was founded by Juan Dominguez de Mendoza and Fray Nicolas Lopez. Named for the San Clemente River (actually the Colorado), the mission was founded at the request of the Jumano Indians, who desired Christianity and the friendship of the Spanish. The buildings was probably constructed of logs, its lower story serving as a chapel and its upper story as a lookout post. Though they stayed only from March 15 to May 1, awaiting envoys from 48 tribes (bands), the Spaniards baptized many of their several thousand Indian allies. Finally, being attacked by hostile Apaches, Mendoza returned with his men to El Paso six months after he had left. Although Mendoza did not know it, French explorer La Salle had landed on the Gulf Coast, 1684. This fact, plus Mendoza's report of seeing a French flag among the Indians quickly led to other Spanish expeditions being sent to chart the Texas wilderness. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Carnegie Library of Ballinger — 6.8 mi
  A 1909 limestone library with an Ionic portico in a railroad town the Santa Fe created in 1886, one of the few Texas Carnegie libraries still working in its original building.
• Z. I. Hale Museum and Rock Hotel — 22 mi
  A free museum in a Winters optometrist's office, a 1909 railroad hotel and a 1927 implement dealership, with Rogers Hornsby's hometown memorabilia and a 1912 horse-drawn cotton picker.

More markers nearby

• John S. Chisum, Confederate Beef Contractor — 6.2 mi
• Charles H. Noyes — 6.6 mi
• Ballinger — 6.6 mi
• Runnels County — 6.7 mi