Acaxochitlán

History

The name comes from Nahuatl and means place where the reed flower abounds. The area belonged to the Toltec state of Tula from about 800 to 1200, and Toltecs settled a spot they called Toltecatlaxco, the place of the Toltec ball game. Around 1300 it fell under the kingdom of Jaltocan, and around 1400 Teochichimeca groups arrived in the Tulancingo region and brought the Nahuatl language. In the 1440s Tenochtitlan briefly held the town before Texcoco took control, and when the Spanish arrived Acaxochitlán allied with them.

The founding of the present town is credited to the Spanish. A first chapel was begun in 1544, the parish of Santa María de la Asunción was established in 1568, and in 1575 the town passed to the jurisdiction of Tulancingo. In 1606 the encomienda was granted to Juan Andrada Moctezuma, a descendant of Moctezuma.

The town that visitors see took shape in the early 20th century: the neo-Gothic chapel of Guadalupe was started in 1909, the fountain dates from 1910, and the clock tower, paid for in part by the community, was finished around 1932. The Mexico City to Tuxpan highway later passed through, and electric light arrived in 1946 thanks to a local resident who financed the first lines.