Mission San Francisco de la Espada (Boundary Increase)
a.k.a. See Also:Mission San Francisco de la Espada
Espada Rd., San Antonio, TXThe site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Four cylindrical lime kilns are located along a fairly steep bank adjacent to the San Antonio River flood plain, just north-east of the mission compound. The bank itself, when lined with clay, forms the south side of each of the kilns. Built up clay walls on the north, or stream side, complete the cylindrical form. Diameters of the kilns vary from 1.45 meters to 2 meters and the maximum exposed height of the walls is approximately 1.5 meters.
The lime kilns, which are located just northeast of the com-pound, are the only known kilns that survive from the Spanish cold nial period in Texas, Since lime, produced from the burning of local limestone, was used as a cementing agent in the masonry of the earliest permanent building sequences of some of the other San Antonio missions, it is anticipated that the same is true here Therefore the kilns could date from as early as c.1740 and in any case will date from the 1740's to the 1770's.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.