Mixcoac

Plaza Jáuregui

Mixcoac is an area of southern Mexico City which used to be a separate town and municipality within the Mexican Federal District until it was made part of Mexico City proper (the Departamento Central at the time in 1928. Mixcoac consists of the colonias (official neighborhoods) of Nonoalco, San Juan, Extremadura Insurgentes, Mixcoac and Insurgentes Mixcoac and is part of Benito Juárez borough. It is located between Avenida de los Insurgentes on the east and the Periférico freeway on the west, south of Colonia Nápoles and San Pedro de los Pinos.

It is a designated Barrio Mágico ("magical neighborhood") of Mexico City.[1]

History

Mixcoac archeological site

The name "Mixcoac" comes from the Nahuatl language mixtli (cloud), coatl (serpent), cómo (in), and therefore means "Place of the Serpent Cloud", alluding to the Milky Way and the god Mixcóatl.

Before the Spanish conquest there was a small settlement on the edge of Lake Texcoco, the lake that surrounded the island city of Tenochtitlan, today Mexico City. The ruins of the site, occupied between about 900 AD and 1521 AD, can be appreciated in the Mixcoac archeological site (see article in Spanish Wikipedia).

After the Conquest, ranchos and haciendas were established in the area, as well as a textile factory which is today forms part of the Mexico City campus of the Universidad Panamericana. In the late 19th century, wealthy people from Mexico City began establishing summer residences here and in nearby towns such as Tacubaya, San Ángel and Coyoacán.In 1910 the large La Castañeda psychiatric hospital opened, functioning until 1967. In 1928 the Municipality of Mixcoac was absorbed into Mexico City proper, that is it became part of a new Departamento Central within the Mexican Federal District.[2]

In 1910 the municipality had 21,812 residents with about 1900 dwellings. In the following decades the ranchos and haciendas were subdivided and the area became contiguous with the rest of the Mexico City urban area.

Nonetheless the historic center of Mixcoac around the main square is largely intact.

Points of interest

Historic buildings and sites that still exist include:

Churches include the Parroquia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán (a.k.a. Ex Convento y Parroquia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán y Capilla de la Virgen del Rayo, Ex-Convent and Parish of Santo Domingo de Guzmán and Chapel of the Virgin of the Ray), first founded in 1595.[3]

Transportation

Mixcoac is served by the Mixcoac station of the Mexico City metro, lines 7 and 12.

Famous residents

Famous residents of Mixcoac have included poets Octavio Paz and Hart Crane, chemist Luis E. Miramontes co-inventor of the progestin norethisterone used in one of the first three oral contraceptives, Mexican president Valentín Gómez Farías, director José Solé, and authors José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, whose house is used for classrooms of the Universidad Panamericana and Katherine Anne Porter, the American story writer and novelist, who later translated one of Lizardi's works.

Gallery

Sources

References

  1. ↑ "Mixcoac", Barrios Mágicos, Mexico City Tourism Secretariat
  2. ↑ "Programa Parcial de Desarrollo Urbano de Insurgentes Mixcoac", Daily Record of the Assembly, Year 3, No. 50, Annex 1, Mexican Federal District Legislative Assembly
  3. ↑ "SANTO DOMINGO DE GUZMAN CHURCH AND FORMER CONVENT", SECTUR DF, Mexico City Tourism Secretariat

External links

Coordinates: 19°22′34″N 99°11′16″W / 19.3761°N 99.1877°W / 19.3761; -99.1877

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, January 26, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.