Álamos

History

Coronado's expedition camped here in 1540 and noted the tall white rocks on the mountain known as Los Frailes, the friars, which gave the first mining camp its name: Real de los Frailes. The town was formally founded on December 8, 1685, by Domingo Terán de los Ríos after silver was discovered nearby, with early mines at Promontorios, La Aduana, Las Cabras, and La Quintera. The Jesuit missionary Eusebio Kino passed through in 1687, and an assay office was operating by 1690.

Silver made Álamos the richest and most important town in northwestern New Spain. The present church of the Purísima Concepción was built between 1786 and 1821. From 1827 to 1830 Álamos was capital of the Estado de Occidente, which joined Sonora and Sinaloa, and when the two split the town later asked to belong to Sonora. During the French Intervention, republican general Antonio Rosales died in the battle of Álamos in 1865, and republican forces won the town back in January 1866.

As the mines gave out, people left and the mansions decayed. In 1948 William Alcorn, a dairyman from Pennsylvania, bought the Almada mansion, restored it as the Hotel Los Portales, and promoted the town. Other restorations followed, along with American retirees and visitors. Álamos became Sonora's first Pueblo Mágico in 2005.