San Francisco del Rincón

San Francisco del Rincón is a town of about eighty thousand people in western Guanajuato, founded on January 20, 1607, by Otomí settlers and named after its patron, Saint Francis of Assisi. It sits in the rich farming plain known as El Rincón, next to the twin town of Purísima de Bustos and close to the industrial city of León.

The town's identity is tied to hats. Records of hat making here go back to 1766, and over the following centuries the workshops of San Francisco became among the most important in Mexico, supplying sombreros of palm, felt and other materials to the whole country and abroad. Like León, it later also became a center of the footwear industry, and today both trades fill its shops and factory outlets.

For visitors, San Francisco del Rincón is above all a place to shop for a good hat at the source and to see a busy, unpretentious Bajío town at work. The center around the Templo de San Francisco de Asís and the main square is pleasant for a stroll and a meal.