Preservation of the Spanish Colonial Missions is a prime objective of the San Antonio Conservation Society. The first property owned by the Society was a door from the San Jose Granary which was bought to prevent its bronze, nail head medallions from being sold to tourists. The Granary at San Jose Mission had served as both chapel and fort while the church was being constructed. After long negotiations, the barrel-vaulted Granary with its flying buttresses was purchased by the Society from the four families that had been living in it. An area of adjoining land was also bought by the Society. The Granary was gradually restored with materials furnished by the Society. In 1933, the federal government supplied WPA labor working under the direction of architect, Harvey P. Smith. After initiating the project, the Society continued, through a committee guided by antiquarian, Ernst Schuchard, to collaborate on this project. The purchase and preservation of the Granary by the Conservation Society sparked the subsequent restoration of the church of Mission San Jose, then in partial ruin, and the reconstruction of the compound walls. This beautiful Texas mission was restored with the Conservation Society acting as a catalyst. Bishop Droessarts, representing the Catholic Church, agencies of Bexar County, and the Texas State Highway Department all cooperated in this endeavor. The Highway Department was persuaded to change the planned location of a road across the mission compound, which would have taken part of the Granary and a large section of the mission grounds. In 1941, the San Jose Granary was presented to the State of Texas by the San Antonio Conservation Society, and the San Jose Mission complex was officially named a National Historic Site, the first in Texas. The Granary and other San Jose Mission property, which had been given to the State of Texas, was transferred to the National Park Service for inclusion in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park on February 20, 1983.

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