Foundation

• The Alamo Mission was built in 1716 as one of several Roman Catholic missions constructed by the Spanish colonial government in east Texas and across the region. The Alamo, first constructed of mud, brush and straw on the east side of the San Antonio River, was moved to the west side of the river in 1720. The mission was slowly expanded to include more than three acres of land in its current location.
  
  

Early Use

• Used in its early years as a housing unit for Roman Catholic priests spreading religion across the region, the Alamo became a permanent building in the 1750s with the two story, L-shaped stone structure where the priests lived. The mission soon expanded to include around 300 Indian converts and 2,000 heads of cattle and 1,300 sheep on the area's self-sustaining farm.
  
  

Early 1800s

• The mission added a permanent church building, as well as around 30 mud and stone huts by the end of the 1700s. The Indian population of the Alamo fluctuated greatly in the century between its founding and the early 1800s, and by 1828 the buildings were all but abandoned as the area was completely secularized. During and after the Mexican war of Independence, the Alamo served as a military hospital, and was transformed into a military base for the troops in San Antonio.
  
  

Battle of the Alamo

• During the Texas Revolution of 1835 and 1836, the Texas army occupied the fort in an attempt to remove all the artillery and destroy it before the oncoming Mexican army under Santa Ana could put it to use. The Mexican army surrounded the Texas soldiers in the fort for four days before entering the Alamo and killing the entire Texan garrison inside. The battle would be avenged later in the year at the Battle of San Jacinto, with the Texans cry of "Remember the Alamo."
  
  

19th and 20th Century Use

• After the battle, the Alamo became an important and strategic military post during the Mexican War and the Civil War. The mission was sold from the Catholic Church to the state of Texas in 1883 and it was restored as a historical building in the early 1900s. Today, it is a museum and a top tourist attraction.