[1] An outstanding example of Spanish Colonial architecture in the United States, the Mission San Xavier del Bac hosts some 200,000 visitors each year.

[5] The water in the Santa Cruz River came up to the surface a few miles south of Martinez Hill and then submerged again near Los Reales Wash.

[6] A Jesuit of Italian descent, Kino often visited and preached in the area, then the Pimería Alta colonial territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

[1] Construction of the first mission church, about 2 miles (3 km) from the site of today's mission, began on April 28, 1700, as noted in his diary: On the twenty-eighth we began the foundations of a very large and capacious church and house of San Xavier del Bac, all of the many people working with much pleasure and zeal, some in digging for the foundations, others in hauling many and very good stones of tezontle from a little hill which was about a quarter of a league away.

By 1763 the building was sufficiently complete that the missionaries could hold services inside it, although a poorly prepared foundation led to architectural issues.

[6] In 1767, Charles III of Spain banned Jesuits from Spanish lands in the Americas; he installed Franciscans, whom he considered more pliable and "reliable", as replacements.

From 1775 on, the mission community and its Indigenous converts were protected somewhat from Apache raids by the Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón, established roughly 7 miles (11 km) downstream on the Santa Cruz River.

[1] With 7,000 pesos[8] borrowed from a Sonoran rancher, they hired architect Ignacio Gaona, who employed a large workforce of O'odham to create today's church.

Following extensive and ongoing restoration of decorations, the mission church interior appears much in its original state, with brilliant colors and complex designs.

[14] The floor plan of the church resembles the classic Latin cross, with a main aisle separated from the sanctuary by the transept, which has chapels at either end.

[1] Unlike the other Spanish missions in Arizona, San Xavier is still actively run by Franciscans, and continues to serve the native community by which it was built.

[16] The mission makes a cameo appearance in Willa Cather's 1927 novel Death Comes for the Archbishop when it is described by Vaillant as "the most beautiful church on the continent, though it had been neglected for more than two hundred years.

[18][19] The San Xavier Festival is held the evening of the Friday after Easter and features a torch-light parade of Tohono O'odham and Yaqui tribal members.

Ten years later, an attack by the Apache forced the residents to abandon the town, with most moving to Tucson, but the Martinez family relocated to San Xavier, where he was granted land by the chief.

The community (sometimes referred to as a town or village) is believed to have existed from about the early 1860s to about 1912, but had long been forgotten until an article in the Arizona Daily Star by historian David Leighton brought it to light.

Domingo built a home and foundry just north of the San Xavier Mission, on the west bank of the Santa Cruz River.

[21] In 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant established the San Xavier Indian Reservation and all non-Native Americans were required to leave Indigenous lands.