La Lomita Chapel Helps Explain Why Mission Is Called Mission

La Lomita means 'the little hill,' and the small whitewashed chapel that sits on it carries a large piece of Mission's story. The Texas Historical Commission marker says the land came from a 1767 Spanish grant to Joseph A. Cantu and was donated in 1861.

The marker says the chapel was built in 1865 at a campsite along the old Brownsville-Roma trail, a day's wagon ride between river towns. It was relocated to its present site in 1899 and, by the marker's own account, has been rebuilt or restored more than once since.

That little chapel is where the city of Mission gets its name. Today the marker stands at La Lomita Historical Park near Chimney Road and Levee Road, southwest of FM 1016, a short, shaded stop that ties the modern city back to its mission-era roots.