Santa Cruz de Rosales

Santa Cruz de Rosales, seat of Rosales municipality, is a town of about 5,900 people in the Río San Pedro valley, roughly 1,180 meters up. It grew from the Franciscan mission of Santa Cruz de Tapacolmes, founded in 1714 on land given by Sergeant Major Juan Antonio Trasviña y Retes, on the spot where the city of Delicias now stands. In 1753 the mission moved to its present site, which was easier to defend against raids, and by 1820 it had its own town council. On July 12, 1831, the state congress made it a villa and named it for the independence fighter Víctor Rosales. People soon shortened that to plain Rosales; the full name was restored by decree in 1992.

On March 16, 1848, the town saw a battle that should never have been fought. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had been signed in February, but U.S. general Sterling Price refused to accept it and chased Governor Ángel Trías, who had fallen back here with a small force. The defenders threw back the first assault and held out until their ammunition ran out. Twenty-five Mexicans died, and Trías and forty-two officers were held prisoner until April 24. Washington later reprimanded Price for attacking without orders. Years afterward Benito Juárez stopped here while retreating north; the town gave him a banquet and a dance, and a polka he enjoyed that night is still known as "La segunda de Rosales."

When the main railway went through Meoqui instead, Rosales faded, and in 1935 part of its land became the new municipality of Delicias. In the 1940s the Francisco I. Madero dam, known to everyone as Las Vírgenes, was built about 5 km upstream. With other works it created Irrigation District 05, one of the most productive farm zones in the state, and it now waters more than 30,000 hectares. On May 3, the feast of the Holy Cross, the town celebrates with dances and horse races, and the local sweet is jamoncillo, a cow's-milk fudge.