The Detours series celebrates lesser-known locales worth visiting across the state. Inside the adobe walls of the Ysleta Mission are clues to a deep history of acculturation that characterizes El Paso to this day. The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe, more commonly known as the Tigua, established the mission in 1682, making it one of the oldest in Texas (much of the current structure was built in 1851). The Tigua arrived here from New Mexico, which they fled after the Pueblo Indians there overthrew the Spanish colonial system, in 1680, forcing Spaniards and Christianized Pueblos to seek safety elsewhere. The Tigua dedicated the mission to Anthony of Padua, patron saint of things that have been lost, whose figure stands atop the entrance; inside are blankets dyed in…
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