- San Elizario Presidio Chapel
We cannot call it a mission, because the Spanish, for the purpose of Christianizing the native population, built missions. The chapels built in San Elceario were for the military and their families; therefore, they were known as presidio chapels.- In 1789, the Spanish military established a presidio (military garrison), which they called “San Elceario”, after the Catholic patron saint of the military. They built a chapel inside the presidio. Some forty years later, the Rio Grande flood of 1829 rendered this chapel useless and another building was erected to serve the people. This building, which eventually became too small, was used until 1877 when the present church was built. Originally the church did not have a bell tower. This was built later.
The bells in the church served as town clock to the people of San Elizario as well as the small towns across the Rio Grande. They rang: to call people to mass, to give glad tidings such as a wedding and a baptism or toll when someone died. They rang at noon to let people know it was lunchtime. Since all the people were Catholic, life centered on the church, its rules and feast days.- In 1935, an electrical short in the sacristy caused a lot of smoke damage to the church. After this, the church was repainted. The original wall paintings were painted over. The current walls were painted in the late 1950’s. The old chandeliers were removed and the current electric lights were installed. The present tin roof was installed after the fire; to hide the smoke damaged rafters. The stained glass windows were donated by the parishioners before the fire but were not damaged by the smoke. The Stations of the Cross date back to about 1918.
- The church is still in use and is updated from time to time – the communion railing was removed, as was the pulpit. The old floor was replaced and the memorial was added after World War II.