Texas Tech Archaeology Team Discovers Lost Spanish Mission

JACKSON COUNTY, TX — A Spanish mission from the early 1700s has been uncovered on a private ranch in Jackson County in South Texas, ending decades of searching.

Archaeologists from Texas Tech University and the Texas Historical Commission discovered the site of Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo in early December near Presidio la Bahía and the former location of Fort St. Louis, roughly between Corpus Christi and Houston near the Texas coast. The mission was occupied from 1721 to 1726 before being abandoned and lost to history.

The discovery was led by Texas Tech archaeology team head Tamra Walter, working with state archaeologists Kay Hindes, Jim Bruseth, Tiffany Osburn and Brad Jones. Texas Tech officials said the find provides a rare, precisely dated glimpse into life on the Spanish frontier in the early 18th century.

The site has a complex colonial past. It was first established in the 1680s by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, as part of France’s attempt to colonize the region. La Salle left the settlement in search of the Mississippi River and was later killed by his own men. The remaining colonists were eventually killed or captured by the Karankawa tribe. Spain later occupied the site for missionary purposes before abandoning it in the mid-1720s.

Walter, an assistant professor at Texas Tech, said the discovery was a shared effort supported by the Summerlee Foundation, the Texas Historical Commission and the private landowners. She also credited her students, several of whom were present when the site was identified.

“I was so thrilled my students were with me,” Walter said. “How many students can say they found a lost mission? Not many.”

Archaeologists plan to conduct a magnetic survey to determine the site’s boundaries, followed by artifact excavation. Walter said Texas Tech students will assist with the next phase of research.