Socorro Mission la Purísima
est. 1680
In 1860, as a result of the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico, Spaniards as well as Piro, Tano, and Jemez Indians were driven from the Socorro Pueblo to the Rio Grande near El Paso del Norte, where they established Mission Socorro del Sur, the Socorro of the South. The first permanent Piro-built church was completed in 1681 and called Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción de los Piros del Socorro del Sur, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of the Piros of Socorro of the South (the church would also be later called both Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción and Nuestra Señora de la Concepción del Socorro).
Flooding in 1740 destroyed the original church, which was rebuilt within four years. Another flood in 1829 destroyed the second church, and actually carved a new channel for the Rio Grande south of the church, which later placed Socorro within the United States rather than Mexico. The new, current church was completed in 1843. Vigas, or ceiling beams, and corbels that had been decorated by the Piro people, were salvaged from the former church and reused. A new facade was added in the 1880s.
