Originally founded in 1716 in eastern Texas, Mission San Juan was transferred in 1731 to its present location. In 1756, the stone church, a friary, and a granary were completed.
Orchards and gardens outside the walls provided melons, pumpkins, grapes, and peppers. Beyond the mission complex, the converted Indian farmers
cultivated maize (corn), beans, squash, sweet potatoes, and sugar cane in irrigated fields.
Early on, bands of raiding Apaches and
later Comanche terrorized the community and the Mission was refuge during attacks.