Site of Mission San Francisco Xavier de Los Dolores

The mission began with a request. In 1745 Yojuane, Deadose, Mayeye and Ervipiame people came to Father Mariano Francisco de los Dolores y Viana at San Antonio and asked him to found a mission in their own country. Dolores set up a temporary mission that winter while the Querétaro college argued with Mexico City over money and soldiers. San Francisco Xavier itself was founded on the river's south bank in February 1748. Captain Ecay Múzquiz counted 153 residents in 1750, and the mission had held seventy-seven baptisms. By 1754 only seventy Mayeyes and Ervipiames remained.

What the plaque says

Site of Mission San Francisco Xavier de Los Dolores Established by Franciscan missionaries in 1749 with the hope of civilizing and christianizing the Coco, Mayeye, Orcoquiza, Karankawa, and other tribes of Indians. The martyrdom of Padre Jose Ganzabal and the circumstances connected therewith caused the departure of the Indians and the friars and the removal of this mission to the San Marcos River in 1755. Reestablished in 1762 on the San Saba River for the conversion of the Lipan Apaches with the new name of Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 14 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.
• Calvert — 33 mi
  A railroad cotton town of 1868 on State Highway 6 that claimed the largest cotton gin in the world and elected Black men to county and state office during Reconstruction.

More markers nearby

• Site of the Mission Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria — 0.5 mi
• Site of the Mission San Ildefonso — 1.4 mi
• Apache Pass River Crossing — 1.4 mi
• Bushdale Community — 4.3 mi