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Torreón

City in the Mexican state of Coahuila

  • 6 min read
  • 9 chapters
Collage de imágenes de lugares populares de la localidad mexicana de Torreón, Coahuila. De arriba a abajo de izquierda a derecha: Alameda Ignacio Zaragoza Cristo de las Noas Puerta de Torreón Plaza Ma
Eduardocx · CC BY-SA 4.0

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The area was originally a center for ranching. With irrigation, the city became an important center for farming and the processing of cotton. The city's economy is based on the metals, livestock, agriculture industries, the textile, metallurgical, chemical, commerce and industries. It is one of the youngest cities in Mexico, having celebrated its centenary in 2007. It is popularly nicknamed "The City of Great Efforts" because despite all the adverse environmental conditions, it managed to flourish as a city due to its prosperous industry and commerce.

Torreón is served by Francisco Sarabia International Airport, an airport with flights to several cities in Mexico and the United States.

History

According to archaeological findings, the area of Torreón was populated around the 10th millennium BC.

The first Spanish mission arrived in 1566, led by Fr. Pedro Espinareda. However, the city developed only in the independent Mexican era, around a Torreón ("Big Tower") built to monitor Río Nazas's floods, in conjunction with the creation of a railroad connecting to the US border city of El Paso, which gave an economic boom to the city and therefore a population boom as well. The population grew from 200 in 1892 to 34,000 in 1910. Torreón received city status in 1907.

During the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920), the city was taken more than once; the most prominent character ever to take the city was the revolutionary general Pancho Villa. It was also the location of the 1911 Torreón massacre, where 303 Chinese immigrants were killed by the revolutionaries over a ten-hour period. During the revolution, Torreón was also the site of an important convention that led to a deal between the rebellious armies. The city is 56 km (35 mi) southwest of historic San Pedro de las Colonias, where some of the Mexican Revolution battles occurred.

After the Mexican Revolution, the city continued to develop economically; during the first years of the 20th century, the primary industry of the city was farming, although other industries later formed or were established in the area.

On September 15, 2007, Torreón celebrated its first 100 years as a chartered city. It held a series of cultural events from September 15, 2006, to September 15, 2007, culminating on the day that the city turned 100 years old.

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