San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo is an historic Catholic mission in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The mission was named in part for the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, José de Azlor y Virto de Vera. Many buildings on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, borrow architectural elements from those found at Mission San José. The mission was founded on February 23, 1720, because Mission San Antonio de Valero had become overcrowded shortly after its founding with refugees from the closed East Texas missions. Father Antonio Margil received permission from the governor of Coahuila and Texas, the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, to build a new mission 5 miles (8 km) south of San Antonio de Valero. Like San Antonio de Valero, Mission San José served the Coahuiltecan Natives. The first buildings, made of brush, straw, and mud, were quickly replaced by large stone structures, including guest rooms, offices, a dining room, and a pantry. A heavy outer wall was built around the main part of the mission, and rooms for 350 Natives were built into the walls.A new church, which is still standing, was constructed in 1768 from local limestone. The mission lands were given to its Natives in 1794, and mission activities officially ended in 1824. After that, the buildings were home to soldiers, the homeless, and bandits. Starting in 1933, the Civil Works Administration and then the Works Progress Administration provided the labor to rebuild and restore the grounds of the mission. Some of the funding for the restoration came from money allotted by the United States for the Texas Centennial Exposition held in Dallas in 1936. The mission walls and Indian quarters were re-built, and the granary was restored. The church facade features from the top: a cross, representing Jesus Christ, St. Joseph (San José) holding the infant Jesus, St. Dominic and St. Francis, Our Lady of Guadalupe (the Virgin Mary), and St. Joachim and St. Anne holding the infant Mary. Located at the south wall of the church sacristy is the Rose Window. Sculptor and significance of the Rose Window is unknown. According to folklore, the window was sculpted by a Spanish master craftsman and artist Pedro Huizar and dedicated it to his sweetheart Rosa who, on her way from Spain to meet with Pedro, lost her life at sea. The Rose Window was sculpted in 1775 and is an example of Baroque architecture in America. Mission San José is now part of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. In 2015, along with The Alamo and Mission Concepción, it became one of five missions in San Antonio designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization.Today the mission is an active parish, and is staffed by the Order of Friars Minor. The current pastor is Fr. Rogelio Martinez, OFM.

The Portal Sculpture at San Jose Y San Miguel De Aguayo is a façade of the mission’s church in San Antonio, Texas; it is covered in saintly figures made by a Mexican-trained sculptor, Pedro Huizar, who carved the figures during 1770–1775. The figures surround an oval window and a portal where the doors of the church are located. The sculptures on the façade were made in high relief and have a spiritual quality of animation. The façade has a Baroque feel and is decorated or embellished with organic sensuous items. Pedro Huizar’s style can be linked to styles in Spain where the Catholic Baroque churches existed at the same time. Huizar also had a medieval Gothic taste of style and created the façade with dense figural abundance surrounding the church's portal doors and windows. The statue figures that flank the doorways are Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, the parents of Mary, and Mary can be shown directly above the entrance of the church. The church is dedicated to Saint Joseph, the Virgin’s husband. He can be seen above the oval-shaped window. Pedro Huizar started his sculpture in 1770 and finished in the year 1775. The facade can be seen today in its location in San Antonio, Texas. The church itself is known as “Queen of the Missions” and gets this name from the relief carvings on the façade. The complex detailing of the stonewalls, granary, and bastions was completed in 1782. Over the centuries the church of Mission San Jose has become a lasting symbol for Spanish missions across the Southwest. The Mission San Jose church was not always located where it is today. The church was moved two other times due to the temperamental river nearby, but now the church is a showplace in the southwest. A Franciscan inspector called it “the most beautiful church along the entire frontier of New Spain." Today the church is open to the public and has mass scheduled 7 days a week.

The Ethel Wilson Harris House is a house built in 1956 located in what is now the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, outside the perimeter walls of the Mission San Jose, in San Antonio, Texas, USA. It is a Modern Movement or Wrightian architecture style house built in 1956, designed by Robert Harris. The house was documented in the Historic American Buildings Survey and is listed in the NRHP for its architecture.It is a two-story frame, stone and concrete house, approximately 2,000 square feet (190 m2) in area, that is quite like a Usonian house.It was a home of artist and conservationist Ethel Wilson Harris. Harris was a supervisor of Arts & Crafts projects for the Works Progress Administration in San Antonio. Two of her tile murals are on the San Antonio River Walk.

Hot Wells is the site of a cultural historical park in San Antonio, Texas. The park complements Texas' only World Heritage Site—the nearby San Antonio Missions National Historical Park—and the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River Walk. The park is located on the east side of the San Antonio River, directly across South Presa Street from the San Antonio State Hospital, along the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad and within sight of Mission San José across the river. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the land was originally inhabited by Coahuiltecan peoples.

Harlandale High School is a public high school located in the city of San Antonio, Texas (USA) and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. This school is the flagship school for the Harlandale Independent School District located in south central Bexar County. In 2017, the school was rated "Met Standard" by the Texas Education Agency, with a 2-Star Distinction for Academic Achievements in ELA/Reading and Post-Secondary Readiness.

Stinson Municipal Airport (IATA: SSF, ICAO: KSSF, FAA LID: SSF) is seven miles south of downtown San Antonio in Bexar County, Texas. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a reliever airport.

The University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine (UIWSOM) is the medical school of the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. It was opened in 2015 and holds provisional accreditation with the American Osteopathic Association.The school began the inaugural class in summer 2017. Medical graduates of UIW-SOM will receive the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree.

Acequia Park is located in the city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. There are picnic tables and restrooms, but alcohol is not allowed in the park. The origins of the park date back to Spanish missionaries, who worked with mission Indians to create a water system sourced by the San Antonio River. The San Antonio Conservation Society (SACS) purchased much of this acreage in 1957 to preserve the area's environment. Because the San Antonio River Authority planned to reconfigure the river channel, SACS joined local land owners in filing a successful water rights and water flow lawsuit against the Authority. In 1975, SACS deeded the property to the City of San Antonio with the stipulation that it be used as a public park.

BiblioTech is the first and only all-digital public library in the United States. It serves residents of Bexar County, Texas. There are three BiblioTech branches and one satellite branch.

The Battle of Concepción was fought on October 28, 1835, between Mexican troops under Colonel Domingo Ugartechea and Texian insurgents led by James Bowie and James Fannin. The 30-minute engagement, which historian J. R. Edmondson describes as "the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution", occurred on the grounds of Mission Concepción, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of what is now Downtown San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. On October 13, the newly created Texian Army under Stephen F. Austin had marched towards Bexar, where General Martín Perfecto de Cos commanded the remaining Mexican soldiers in Texas. On October 27, Austin sent Bowie and Fannin, with 90 soldiers, to find a defensible spot near Bexar for the Texian Army to rest. After choosing a site near Mission Concepción, the scouting party camped for the night and sent a courier to notify Austin. After learning that the Texian Army was divided, Cos sent Ugartechea with 275 soldiers to attack the Texians camped at Concepción. The Texians took cover in a horseshoe-shaped gully; their good defensive position, longer firing range, and better ammunition helped them to repel several Mexican attacks, and the Mexican soldiers retreated just 30 minutes before the remainder of the Texian Army arrived. Historians estimate that between 14 and 76 Mexican soldiers were killed, while only one Texian soldier died.

Franciscan Friars established Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña (also Mission Concepción) in 1711 as Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de los Hainais in East Texas. The mission was by the Domingo Ramón-St. Denis expedition and was originally meant to be a base for converting the Hasinai to Catholicism and teaching them what they needed to know to become Spanish citizens. The friars moved the mission in 1731 to San Antonio. After its relocation most of the people in the mission were Pajalats who spoke a Coahuiltecan language. Catholic Mass is still held every Sunday. On October 28, 1835, Mexican troops under Colonel Domingo de Ugartechea and Texian insurgents led by James Bowie and James Fannin fought the Battle of Concepción here. Historian J.R. Edmondson describes the 30-minute engagement as "the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution."Mission Concepción is the oldest unrestored stone church in America. it was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 15, 1970 and is part of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. In 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization designated Concepción and four other San Antonio missions, including The Alamo, as a World Heritage Site, the first in Texas and one of twenty-three such establishments in the United States.Mission Concepción consists of a sanctuary, nave, convento, and granary. When originally built, brightly painted frescos decorated both the exterior and interior of the building. Traces of the frescoes still exist on the weathered facade of the building. Experts restored some of the artwork on the interior ceilings and walls of the convento in 1988. The Archdiocese of San Antonio completed another restoration of the mission's interior in 2010 which exposed more frescoes in the sanctuary and nave.

Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas, was established in 1915 to train the Catholic priests of the region to carry out their service to the people.