Early History
In 1680, as a result of the Pueblo Revolt, the Tigua (Tiwa) tribe was forced to flee from their ancestral home, Isleta Pueblo, located south of present-day Albuquerque, New Mexico. Some of the pueblo people fled to Hopi territory in Arizona while others followed Spanish colonists as they retreated southward. The Spanish and Tiguas eventually settled in El Paso del Norte (present day El Paso, TX) where they established the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and where the Ysleta Mission was founded. The spelling of Ysleta with a "Y" and the term del Sur (south) was to differentiate the new settlement from the mother pueblo, Isleta. In 1682, the Tigua people built a permanent structure out of adobe and, in October of that year, the building was formally dedicated by Bishop Salpointe of Tucson and named La Misión de Corpus Christi de San Antonio de la Ysleta del Sur in honor of the Tigua's patron saint, Saint Anthony (San Antonio).
Over the next two centuries the mission was relocated several times due to flooding of the Rio Grande river. In 1829 one such flood washed away the structure. The flood also resulted in the river cutting a new course further south and the area where the church had been located was no longer considered a part of Mexico but of the Republic of Texas. In 1897 the structure was remodeled and the now familiar gables and bee-hive bell tower were added. A fire in 1907, caused by chemicals stored in the bell tower to repel bats, resulted in massive damage to the building. The church was rebuilt in 1908 and remains much the same today. The church prospered and in 1918 Our Lady of Mount Carmel School was established and it remained open until 2005 when the church closed it. The Texas Historical Commission erected historical markers at the Ysleta Mission in the following years: 1936 – First mission and pueblo in Texas, 1962 – Site of first mission in Texas, and 1970 – Oldest mission in Texas. On July 31, 1972, the Ysleta Mission was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
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