The third and final location near Goliad, Texas, is maintained now as part of Goliad State Park and Historic Site Established on 1722 on Matagorda Bay near La Salle's Fort Saint Louis on Garcitas Creek, as the mission and complementing presidio the fort was intended to secure the Texas coastline from the French and to gather the local Cocos, Copanes, and Cujanes.

Although prosperous, Spanish officials recommended moving the mission to secure the area between Béxar and East Texas from the encroachment of the French and English.

Temporary "jacales" housing was built from log and clay (waddle and daub), with construction of stone and mortar outer defensive walls and interior buildings initiated—but not reaching completion until 1758.

The mission facilities inside the surrounding stone walls included rooms to house the priests and the Indian families, a granary, workrooms, and a separately located forge.

The mission found success educating and serving the tribes Aranama, Piguique, Manos de Perro, Tamique, Tawakoni, and Tonkawa in the area, but by the early 1830s was facing opposition from raiding Apaches and Comanches.

In 1933, the Civil Works Administration began reconstruction of the stone chapel and granary following drawings from the National Park Service and San Antonio architect Atlee Ayres.