Between roughly 1748 and 1755, three Franciscan missions operated in close proximity along the San Xavier (now San Gabriel) River near present-day Rockdale, sponsored by the College of Santa Cruz de Queretaro: San Francisco Xavier de Horcasitas, San Ildefonso, and Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria. Their intended function mirrored other Texas missions: converting and educating nearby native peoples, chiefly the Yojuane, Deadose, Mayeye, and Ervipiame, who had initially petitioned Spanish authorities for a mission in their territory. At their peak the three missions together instructed several hundred native residents, called neophytes, in Catholic doctrine, and missionaries began work on a shared irrigation canal to support farming for all three communities, though the project was never completed. The complex's use as a functioning religious and agricultural community collapsed quickly after the nearby Presidio San Francisco Xavier de Gigedo was established in 1751 to protect it: disputes between military and religious authorities, a hostile climate, disease, and violent unrest among native groups undermined daily operations, and by 1755 the missions were abandoned, with surviving native converts relocated to the San Antonio missions. No standing structures remain at the San Gabriel River site today. The location is preserved chiefly through historical markers and archaeological interest, and it now serves as a heritage and educational reference point illustrating a short-lived, largely unsuccessful chapter of Spanish colonial missionary expansion into Central Texas, rather than as a developed visitor destination.