San Esteban del Rey Mission Church
Where? Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico
Year Built: 1629
Religion: Roman Catholic
Still in Use? Museum
This church was constructed in 1629 by Franciscan monks who came to Acoma Pueblo to convert the indigenous people to Christianity. The Mission Church had mainly been built with the same adobe bricks used on the rest of the Acoma Pueblo’s structures.
However, the roof parts were made with timber from the San Mateo Mountains, which is over 30 miles away from the Acoma Pueblo. During the 1600s, the Spanish built a few missions to control their colonial empire in New Mexico.
After the violence between the Spanish and Acoma, Friar Juan Ramirez founded the San Estevan del Rey Mission. Over the next couple of decades, the Spanish worked painfully to replace Acoma beliefs with Christianity.
Behind the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Acoma managed to take back control of their Pueblo for a couple of years but were finally overpowered in 1696.
Since the Mission Church is on Acoma Pueblo lands, this oldest episcopal church in the USA only serves as a tourist attraction today.
