U. S. Mission Trail / The Mission Trail Today - The Spanish Missions in Arizona
Slide Show This site is owned, designed, and operated by Kenneth A. Larson who has over a quarter century of experience in design and construction of scenery for the Entertainment Industry and Theme Parks using Computer Aided and Traditional approaches to Design. Ken also has experience in other areas of Design.
Select photographs of my many visits to The Missions of the United States South and Southwest built by Spain and Mexico between 1565 and 1823.
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Arizona's First Mission

Arizona Missions Main Page

There are two main clusters of Spanish Missions in the present day U. S. state of Arizona. The best examples are south of Tucson, the other cluster are two missions that are actually on the California side of the Colorado River near Yuma. Although these latter two missions were in California, they were Arizona adminstered Missions and not related to the better know missions along the California coast.
This section to be eidted. A work in progress. Still researching this list. More than twenty (maybe 25) were established in the Pimería Alta (the region now known as Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora, Mexico) by Father Kino and other Jesuits, and later expanded upon by Franciscan missionaries. Only four Arizona missions remain, only two of which are easily visited.

Unlike the famous California Missions which are restored and in a line along the coast extending north from the Mexico-US border, the Arizona Missions are largely unrestored, scattered, and half of them are in Mexico.
Arizona Sonora Name, founding date, founder
azizona or sonora azizona or sonora Mission Nuestra Se&ntilda;ora de los Dolores, March 13, 1687 by Father Kino
  1. Mission Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, founded on March 13, 1687. This was the first mission founded by Father Kino. By 1744, the mission was abandoned. The cemetery remans on the site of the Tumacácori National Historical Park in Southern Arizona.
  2. Mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori was founded in 1691, then moved in 1751 and renamed Mission San José de Tumacácori. The farming land around the mission was sold at auction in 1834 and the mission was abandoned by 1840. The remains are part of the Tumacácori National Historical Park in Southern Arizona.
  3. Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi was also established by Father Kino, one day after Tumacácori, in January 1691. Near Tumacácori, Tumacácori National Historical Park.
  4. Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama, first founded by the Jesuits in 1691. The present structure is located on a part of the Tumacácori National Historical Park in Southern Arizona. Or in Mexico.
  5. Mission San Xavier del Bac, located South of Tucson, active religious use, founded in 1699. "White Dove of the Desert"
    5a) Mission San Agustîn, also known as San Cosme y Damian de Tucson, was established by Father Garcés as a visita or daughter church of San Xavier del Bac in the O'odham village of Chuk-Son in 1770. This community becomes to be called Tucson in the following century.
  6. Mission San Cayetano de Calabazas was established in November of 1756 by Jesuit Father Francisco Pauer. Near Tumacácori, Tumacácori National Historical Park.
  7. Mission Puerto de Purísima Concepción was founded in October, 1780 by Father Francisco Garcés. In California near Yuma, Arizona.
  8. Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer was founded in January, 1781 by Father Francisco Garcés. In California near Yuma, Arizona.



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This web site started because of my love for the Spanish Missions in the United States. This web site is for your benefit and I make no profit on it. I don't allow paid advertising. This site is supported primarily from my regular paycheck as a Set Designer and there haven' been many this year. My wife sells Gold Canyon products at www.valleygirlcandles.com and I sell art at www.klimages.com. A non-tax deductable donation to help cover the cost of operating this web site may be made to Kesign Design Consulting through PayPal ...
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