Misíon Santa María y San José
Saints Mary and Joseph Mission
Lajitas, Texas
see text below the photos
Photo Mike Gross, March 2021
Photo Mike Gross. March 2021
This historical photo is from the Archives of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State University, and was dated as “about 1940" by Dr. Clifford B. Casey, who was a history professor there. Photo provided by Carolyn Ohl-Johnson
This photo also from the Big Bend Archive and dated by Dr. Casey as “about 1960". Photo provided by Carolyn Ohl-Johnson.
Misíon Santa María y San José
Saints Mary and Joseph Mission
Lajitas, Texas
The original mission was built around 1901 on property that was part of a trading post established by H. W. McGuirk. It was a mission of Santa Teresa de Jesús Catholic Church in Presidio. The church had fallen into ruins by the 1940s and was reconstructed by community members in Lajitas beginning in 1978. No longer a Catholic church, Saints Mary and Joseph is now one of the three missions of the Big Bend Episcopal Mission (the others are Saint James in Alpine and Santa Inez in Terlingua). Apparently other denominations hold services there as well. Members of the Lajitas community to lovingly maintain the church, as is evident in my recent photos.
Location: in the Lajitas resort, just off TX FM 170. Heading west on 170 in Lajitas, turn left just before crossing a large arroyo. The church is surrounded by newly built adobe condos.
Coordinates: 29.262872600,-103.779195100
references/more information (full citations on the references page)
Young, El Paso Dioceses, 241
Ohl-Johnson, “Lajitas Church”
Big Bend Episcopal Mission