Socorro Mission Bell

A wooden-cross tops the graceful, stepped facade of the Socorro Mission, just south of El Paso, Texas.

The Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción del los Piros del Socorro, or Socorro Mission (also known as La Purisima Catholic Church), was founded in 1682 by the Franciscan order to serve displaced Native American Indians (the Piro, Tano, and Jemez) from New Mexico, who fled during the Pueblo Revolt.

The present Socorro Mission was constructed circa 1840-1843 to replace an earlier 18th-century mission destroyed in 1829 by flooding of the Rio Grande.

The mission is located along the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail ("The Royal Road of the Interior Land"), and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photographer: Carol Highsmith
Date: February 14, 2014
Location: Socorro, Texas
Orientation: Horizontal/Landscape
Image enhanced by Rebel Seed Studio