San Jose Mission - Indian Quarters by myrrhluz
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Many thanks for the kind comments on my last upload and the emails of support. They meant a lot to me and I am very grateful.
I want to finish posting my images of San Jose y Miguel de Aguayo Mission before I head off to New Orleans, and I will not have a lot of time to comment, so I am going to turn the comment option off for the rest of the Mission shots. I'll have it back on when I get back from N.O.
The following is a continuation of the article identified below.
"Around April 27, 1721, when Aguayo visited San Jose at its first site, 227 Indians resided in the mission compound. The compound measured about 332 feet on a side and included temporary religious and secular structures. Father Pedro Ramirez de Arellano, given charge of San Jose in 1759, launched construction on the present church in 1768. According to Morfi, when the church, with its belfry, choir loft, nave, and vaulted roof, was near completion in 1777, San Jose was "the first mission . . . in point of beauty, plan, and strength." The cupola and facade were heavily ornamented with colorful geometrical designs. The church was richly embellished with carving and statuary. As the center for religious and social development, it was the place for the Mass, an assembly hall, and a building for baptisms, weddings, and funerals. The stone friary, started in the 1740s, was probably constructed as a series of units built eastward from the church wall and, with its gardens, had a circumference of about 416 feet. Other structures included a granary, a carpentry shop, a blacksmith shop with a dwelling for the smith and his family, and a weaving workshop. The mission pueblo was probably an open village through 1758, but a major change occurred by 1768, when, according to Solis, it was converted into an enclosed defensive compound, probably because of Apache hostility. To assure the safety of 350 inhabitants, the mission plaza was encompassed by four stone walls, each having a gateway. From watchtowers all sides and entrances were visible. Indian quarters, constructed from limestone, each consisted of one room and a kitchen and, by 1768, were located mainly along the walls. Father Jose Pedrajo built a Norse-type flour mill near the north wall. The mill, described in 1794, was powered by hydraulic energy produced by water pressure built in a cistern and channeled to the turbine."
Gilberto R. Cruz, "SAN JOSE Y SAN MIGUEL DE AGUAYO MISSION," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uqs23), accessed February 28, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
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