Scholars disagree on a founding date for the mission.
Piro Indians and Franciscan missionaries arrived in the El Paso valley in 1680, but the exact location of their initial settlement has never been determined. While construction of most of what is the present church began in 1684 and completed in 1692, we know that at least one other permanent structure had already been constructed and abandoned because of Apache attacks. Archaeological excavations to the southeast of the present structure have uncovered what is believed to be the foundation of the original structure. Like Mission Ysleta, Mission Socorro suffered a series of disasters as a result of the flooding of the Rio Grande river. When the 1692 structure was destroyed by the flooding river in 1740, it was replaced four years later.