Their language, which was carefully translated into a written form by Father Sitjar, seemed nothing more than a series of guttural ejaculations to the civilized Spanish listener. The padres at San Antonio pushed building operations from the start. During the year 1776, the church was roofed with mortar and tiles and a street lined with adobe dwellings for the Indians was completed. Storerooms, barracks , warehouses and shops were erected, and irrigation ditches were dug to carry water to the fields from the San Antonio River. A building 133 feet long for the church and sacristy was started in 1779 and finished the following year.
Old records reveal steady progress in building through the years.
A new church was completed in 1813 and long before that, a water power mill for grinding grain had been erected. The Indian community grew steadily. Wells were dug and a reservoir and aqueduct built. Heavy rains fell in the San Antonio district in 1825, causing the collapse of a number of structures, but these were replaced by larger and stronger buildings. As Mission San Antonio grew wealthy and generally improved, so did the appearance of the neophytes .