The Villa de San Felipe was founded in 1562. It is older than the Villa de León (1576), although younger than Acámbaro (1526). In the years following the start of construction of its parish church in 1641, it was nicknamed “Torres Mochas” (Stepped Towers), because it took 243 years for the church’s tower and bell tower to be completed (1884).
It was called Villa de San Felipe during the viceregal era (from the Conquest of Mexico in 1521 to the achievement of Mexico’s independence in 1821).
In 1889, by government decree, the name of San Felipe was changed to Ciudad González, in honor of Governor Manuel González.
In 1938, a second decree was issued changing the town’s name to Ciudad Hernández Álvarez, in honor of Governor Enrique Hernández Álvarez. However, despite the various names it went through, the city was always popularly known as San Felipe Torres Mochas.
And on October 14, 1948, San Felipe was established as the city’s official name, although most people identify it more with its nickname Torres Mochas.
Torres Mochas
According to data from a monograph written by José Aguirre Bárcenas and José Hernández Salazar, it is difficult to determine the date when construction began on the Parish of San Felipe, although there is a document from the pastoral visit made on July 30, 1641, by Bishop Fray Marcos Ramírez de Prado, which indicates that construction had begun that year, since the Bishop was received there.
After this initial information, there are no documents regarding the completion of its first stage, that is, with only the first section of the tower, which was broken until the 18th century, a period in which the years 1728, 1741, and 1765 are cited as the completion of the first section.
But regardless of the exact year of its completion, the fact is that, from any of these years onward, the parish church remained unfinished for more than 100 years, which is why, it is said, this town was and is known by the nickname “Torres Mochas,” since it was not until January 31, 1884, that work on the slender tower that currently adorns it was considered finished.
However, there is another hypothesis to explain the nickname “Torres Mochas.” This theory, put forward by Don Enrique Guzmán Romero in his work “El Porqué de Torres Mochas,” refers to the fact that, after the construction of the wall that formed the “Presidio of San Felipe,” the towers that were supposed to be built at the corners and entrance gates, according to the plans of the time that were used as a guide for this type of building, were never completely finished.
Thus, Enrique Guzmán concludes: “The admiration of seeing this solid construction with its muted towers made thousands of locals say: ‘The town or the presidio of San Felipe ‘Torres Mochas,’ and the travelers on the caravans who, upon arriving in the town of San Miguel, asked where the first stop would be, the drivers of these caravans would tell them it would be at the town of Torres Mochas; the same thing happened with the travelers coming from Zacatecas.”
Regardless of the versions, the nickname, appellation, or appellation “Torres Mochas” has persisted to this day.
To know
The first settlers in the San Felipe region were several groups of nomadic Chichimecas (Zacatecs, Guamares, and Guachichiles).
San Felipe was established as a Presidio in 1554 and later founded by Francisco de Velasco on January 21, 1562, by order of Viceroy Don Luis de Velasco, with the name Villa de San Felipe in honor of King Philip II of Spain.
In 1563, King Philip II granted San Felipe the title of Villa de la Comunidad (Villa of the Community), leaving it in the care of Francisco de Velasco.
The Villa was divided into two towns for over 300 years: the Spanish town and the Pueblito de Analco (Pueblito de Analco) for the region’s indigenous inhabitants. The two towns were separated by the stream now known as Río Cocinero.
The town’s parish church began construction after the town’s founding. It was almost completely completed in 1641, although the tower and bell tower weren’t finished until 1884. During this time, the church of Our Lady of Solitude, located in the town of Analco, was also built.
San Felipe is known as the “Cradle of Pottery” because many families work with clay. They make plates, jars, tea sets, casseroles, and pottery using ancient methods taught by the priest Miguel Hidalgo, who arrived at the parish of San Felipe on January 23, 1792.
San Felipe has a large number of haciendas where agriculture and livestock were raised hundreds of years ago. The most important and impressive is the Jaral de Berrio hacienda, as well as the San Joaquín de la Quemada hacienda.
In 1863, during the Second French Intervention, Don Benito Juárez, on his way to Monterrey, stayed at the Hotel Casino (now the Hotel Juárez), and likewise, in 1867, President Juárez stayed there again on his return to Mexico City.
During the Porfiriato, large estates re-emerged in San Felipe, such as El Cubo and San Diego de Jaral de Berrio.
The above is just part of the interesting history of this municipality, where the nickname Torres Mochas has survived to this day, since simply calling it San Felipe is like “mocharle” (splitting) part of its name.
Source: lasillarota
