The Mission Trail Historic District contains some of the oldest Spanish missions on the continent. Three missions lie in this district. The oldest, Ysleta del Sur, was established in 1682. The Socorro Mission was also established in 1682. The San Elizario Mission is located outside the city limits in the county of El Paso.
Ysleta del Sur
Ysleta Historic District

Socorro Mission
Established in 1582 as a mission for Piros, Thanos and Jemes Indians. Originally it was located about 12 leagues (30 miles) from the Guadalupe Mission at Paso del Norte and about 7 1/2 leagues (19 miles) from Ysleta. However, when a group of Indians threatened to revolt, the mission was moved to a new location about one league (2 1/2 miles) from the Ysleta Mission. Apparently a new church was built in 1705. The area continued to grow. During a 1760 visit by the Bishop of Durango, Mexico, there were about 600 people in Socorro and a nearby hacienda. In 1829 the Socorro Mission was destroyed by flood. Using the vigas (beams) from the original church, the present church was built about half- a-mile closer to Ysleta and completed about 1843. Because the mission has not been greatly altered over the years, it is considered to be the most representative of the early El Paso valley missions.
Chapel of San Elizario
San Elizario is entirely different from the other mission in the El Paso valley. It was established as a defense post. Named after a French saint of the late 13th century, Saint Elzear, the church at San Elizario was built slightly more than a century after the Socorro and Ysleta missions. An order was issued in February 1780 to establish a post in San Elizario. It wasn't established until 1788 with a post chapel and a mission of the Socorro church. Its primary service was to look after the spiritual needs of the soldiers of the presidio. A village grew around the presidio, which later became lager than either Ysleta or Socorro. In 1850 San Elizario became the first county seat of El Paso County. The mission itself has been washed away many times by the flooding of the Rio Grande. In 1935, a fire swept through the structure destroying most of the vigas and other objects that had been saved from earlier buildings. But after each disaster, the mission was always rebuilt.

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