San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is located about three miles from downtown San Antonio. It consists of four missions: Concepción, San José, San Juan and Espada.
The Missions were built in the 1700s to expand Spanish influence from Mexico to the North. They were built as Indian towns, and the Catholic Church functioned as the town focus. In the area, Catholic missionaries were converting Indians to Catholicism and attempting to make them Spanish citizens.
