Tlaxco

History

People have lived around Tlaxco since several centuries before the common era. Between about 100 and 600 CE the north of what is now Tlaxcala, including Tlaxco, fell within the Teotihuacan sphere, while groups linked to El Tajín also settled in the area.

The earliest colonial record is a land grant made in 1549 to Pierres Gómez. European-style agriculture expanded in the 18th century through large haciendas, and Tlaxco became one of the five tithe districts of the province. By 1779 the town was known as San Agustín Tlaxco.

The town saw a military action in 1816 during the War of Independence and more fighting between liberals and conservatives in the Reform years. In 1877 it received the title Villa de la Regeneración. Under Porfirio Díaz it was a busy market town; landowners and merchants financed an agricultural railway to Apizaco that opened in 1902, though it later closed as unprofitable. In 1932 Tlaxco ranked second in the state in pulque production. It was named a city in 1939, and the road to Apizaco and Chignahuapan was completed in the 1950s.