History of the San Agustín Mission Site
The San Agustín Mission
was founded by Father Garcés in the early 1770's.
The mission was built as a visita (a "colony" or "daughter"
church established by Mission San Xavier) in an existing
O'odham village called "Chuk-Shon" located at the base of Sentinel
Peak. It was from this village that Tucson takes its modern
name. The site itself
has a much older history. The plot of land that the mission
was constructed upon shows evidence of human occupation
for at least the past 4000 years.
The mission began with the
construction of the chapel, but the visita quickly
grew with the construction of the compound walls, a convento
and granary buildings. The mission or visita complex
also included two cemeteries, one for the Spanish, and one
for the O'odham peoples. Examining the historical
record, it is clear that the visita or mission has
a complex history. Many of the historical records and accounts
of the mission's history seem to contradict each other.
While we still have a great deal to learn about the history
of the San Agustín Mission, you can examine some
the available evidence below:
