Viesca

History

The story begins with salt. From 1605 Juan Guerra de la Reza worked the salt deposits at the eastern edge of the kingdom of Nueva Vizcaya, and the town's spring still carries his name.

The town itself was founded by Tlaxcalans from Santa María de las Parras, descendants of the settlers of San Esteban de la Nueva Tlaxcala near Saltillo. They had been locked in a land dispute with the powerful Marquisate of San Miguel de Aguayo. On July 25, 1731, they agreed to give up their lands in exchange for others at the Paraje del Álamo and the Juan Guerra spring. Forty-nine Tlaxcalans took formal possession, laid out house lots, orchards, and a plot for the church, and chose San José de Gracia and the apostle Santiago as patrons. The settlement was known as Álamo de Parras. A company of soldiers from here was stationed at the San Antonio de Valero mission in Texas, which is how that mission came to be called El Álamo. Miguel Hidalgo passed through during the War of Independence. The town was later renamed for José María Viesca, a governor of Coahuila and Texas.

Viesca was once green, fed by abundant springs, but the water gave out and many families left. A salt factory sustained the town until it closed in the 1990s. Viesca was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2012.