Missions & Churches
The early Spanish missionaries built adobe chapels and missions throughout Mexico, which at the time included Southern Arizona. Several fine architectural examples can be visited here. This area also boasts the oldest Protestant church in the United States (St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tombstone) as well as the nation’s only intersection having a different church at each of its four corners (Church Square in Douglas). A variety of historic churches—some elaborately constructed with imported materials during the mining boom era—are still in use.
Video: Mission San Xavier del Bac
Meet The Missions
At San Xavier and Tumacácori, Spanish colonial history is on full display.