Mission San José was founded in 1720 and named for Saint Joseph and the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo, the governor of the Province of Coahuila and Texas at the time. It was built on the banks of the San Antonio River a few miles to the south of the earlier mission, Mission San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo). Its founder was Father Antonio Margil de Jesus, a very prominent Franciscan missionary in early Texas. Mission San Jose is an active parish to this day.