Tequixquiac - The Town

The Town

The area has been populated at least for the past 12,000 years according to archeological artifacts found in this area including some of the first examples of art done by men in the Americas, three shells decorated by filling in the lower portions with precious material called the "Sacro (sacrum) de Tequixquiac." This artefact is located in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Humans were most likely drawn here due to the location's abundance of streams and springs.

The Mexica passed by here in their wanderings from Aztlan before founding the city of Tenochtitlan (later Mexico City). The foundation of the town itself dates to 1168 AD by the Chichimecas who settled under the influence of the Olmecs, but pottery and other artifacts found here also show Huasteca, Mixtec and Totonac influences. Historical records show that the town was dominated by the Toltecs, the Tepanecas as well as the Aztecs. The Aztecs were the last to take control, after Chimalpopoca conquered the area in 1415. Tequixquiac remained in the Tepaneca district of the Aztec Empire under the authority of the lord of Tacuba, paying tribute to him at Hueypoxtla. The town kept its chiefs, now loyal to the Aztecs, one of the last of which was Acalmiztli, who supposedly was very respected among his subjects. The inhabitants of pre-Conquest Tequixquiac were known for their strict honor code and being advanced in medicine, education, architecture and civil engineering.

After the fall of the Aztec empire to the Spanish, Hernán Cortés awarded the town and the area around it as an encomienda to two conquistadors, Martín López, who constructed the brigantines that helped destroy Tenochtitlan and Andrés Núñez. In this town, along with Apaxco and Hueypoxtla, lime began to be extracted, using Indian forced labor. Indian families were displaced off their lands in 1552 by Francisco López de Tlaltzintlale to make way for more Spanish settlers. The viceregal government justified this by religious means. They had the Franciscans build new chapels built on the various encomiendas and settled the Indians around these. One of these chapels was the Temple of Santiago Tequixquiac which had authority over the new villages of San Mateo Hueycalco, San Sebastián Tlalachco and others. This temple was constructed in 1569. It became a formal parish in 1590.

This temple was constructed in various phases. The atrium was a large space encased in stone with a cross on top of it but with Christian and indigenous symboles mixed on its walls. In each of its four corners there are wells and in the center there is an open space with Solomonic columns. The facade contains two doorways that are elaborately decorated in stonework which contains indigenous symbolism as well. The temple and the town are dedicated to the Apostle James. During a drought, a sculpture of the "Señor de la Capilla" (Our Lord of the Chapel) was brought over to Tequixquiac from Apaxco. When the drought broke, the image was not returned, presumably because it was made of fiber and had grown too heavy to carry. From then on, it has stayed in this town and many miracles have been attributed to it. The parish's vault was constructed in 1856.

The first school in the town was built in 1856 in the San Miguelito neighborhood by Narciso Vargas.

The Grand Canal was built through here during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz in order the drain the Valley of Mexico. During its construction many of the archeological finds that inform of the early existence of humans in this area were found. One of the engineers of the canal project, Tito Rosas, is credited with finding the "Sacro de Tequixquiac". In the 20th century, the production of pulque was economically important here, with the Hacienda of San Sebastián being the major producer. A railway to connect Mexico City with the rest of the country was built through here in 1917 on what is now Alfredo del Mazo street but was dismantled for political reason in 1945.

The town became urbanized as part of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area starting in the 1950s.