Presidio La Bahía

The Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto de la Bahía, known more commonly as Presidio La Bahia, or simply La Bahia is a fort constructed by the Spanish Army that became the nucleus of the modern-day city of Goliad, Texas, United States. The current location dates to 1747.Today, the presidio is probably most famous for the part it played the Texas Revolution: namely the Battle of Goliad in October 1835, and the Goliad Massacre in March 1836. It was restored in the 1960's and became a National Historic Landmark in 1967. While several adjacent historical sites in Goliad are now part of the Texas state parks system, La Bahia is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Victoria, Texas but operates as public museum. It continues to be the subject of noted archaeological research.OverviewFounded in 1721 on the ruins of the failed French Fort Saint Louis, the presidio was moved to a location on the Guadalupe River in 1726. In 1747, the presidio and its mission were moved to their current location on the San Antonio River. By 1771, the presidio had been rebuilt in stone and had become "the only Spanish fortress for the entire Gulf Coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the Mississippi River". The civilian settlement, later named Goliad, sprang up around the presidio in the late 18th century; the area was one of the three most important in Spanish Texas.