Huáscato

Huáscato is a delegation of Degollado municipality and its second most populous locality, with 1,391 residents at the 2020 census. It sits at about 1,600 metres above sea level in the Lerma-Chapala-Santiago basin, and federal highway 90 (Irapuato–Guadalajara) runs through it. Administratively it belongs to the Ciénega region, though it is traditionally counted as part of the Altos de Jalisco.

Founding is attributed to the conquistador Juan de Villaseñor y Orozco; a document of 2 July 1544 added Huáscato to his holdings. The Hacienda Huáscato, 'El Molino', depended on the Hacienda de Santa Ana Pacueco, and old papers call the place Guascato or Guazcato. Under the hacendado Ignacio Castellanos orange trees were planted and citrus became nationally known during the Porfiriato; in 1910 Porfirio Díaz visited the hacienda to hunt deer. In 1937, under President Lázaro Cárdenas, the Ejido Huáscato was granted 6,675 hectares.

The plaza holds two stone sculptures unveiled in December 2009, 'La Cruz de Huáscato' and 'El Naranjo'. The parish church of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe was built between 1950 and 1953 on the site of the hacienda chapel, rebuilt around 1882. The Huáscato River feeds the Presa Ing. Guillermo Lugo Sanabria, 'La Pólvora', which holds 63 million cubic metres, was finished in 1988 and inaugurated on 1 December 1989.