http://www.nps.gov/saan/historyculture/sanjosehistory1.htm

Mission San Jose, the largest, most impressive and preserved of the 5 missions. San Jose was founded in 1720 and retains the original enclosing wall and all associated buildings.  The church is situated in a less developed area, surrounded in most directions by trees and grass land around the river.  Quite extensive reconstruction has taken place after the structure fell in to disuse in the nineteenth century.

The mission was named for Saint Joseph and the Marques de San Miguel de Aguayo, the governor of the Province of Coahuila and Texas at the time.  It was built on the banks of the San Antonio River several miles to the south of the earlier mission, San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo). 

Its founder the famed Father Antonio Margil de Jesus, a very prominent Franciscan missionary in early Texas.

Mission Jose is an active parish. Visitors are welcome to attend mass on Sundays.

San Jose, as it became know, was the largest ofthe missions in the area.  At its height, the community contained about 350 Indian neophytes, sustained by extensive fields and herds of livestock.  Viewed as the model among the Texas missions, San Jose gained a reputation as a major social and cultural center.  It became known as the "Queen of the Missions." Its imposing complex of stone walls, bastions, granary, and magnificent church was completed by 1782.