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The town of San Felipe celebrates its 82nd Anniversary |
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Written by Len
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Thursday, 25 January 2007 |
(Happy wishes and positive thoughts for the future go out as San Felipe turns 82 years old)
San Felipe has seen a lot of changes since it first became an organized town in 1925. Anyone who has visited San Felipe just once will tell you how enchanting the people are, how breathtaking the weather and scenery are, and will most likely tell you how anxious they are to return once again. But many have wondered how San Felipe actually began. In celebration of its 82nd anniversary, we wanted to bring you a general timeline to show just how far this once small fishing village has come.
• 1539; Francisco de Ulloa documents his arrival in this area (he was sent by Hernon Cortez to make a map of the coastline).
• 1721; Juan de Ugarte landed on San Felipe soil.
• 1746; The town is officially christened San Felipe de Jesus by Father Fernando Consag who lands here.
• 1876; A contract is signed between the Mexican government and Guillermo Andrade to colonize 30,000 hectares he had acquired. This would be the beginning of San Felipe’s modern history.
• 1904; The first fishing campo was put together.
• 1917; The Constitution of Mexico is adopted.
• 1922; Jose Maria Rodriguez Lujan begins negotiations to purchase the land where La Hacienda is located.
• 1925; San Felipe gets its official beginning as it finally starts to develop as an organized community. This is the anniversary date that we celebrate today (February 5th).
• 1928; The first fishing society was founded.
• 1929; San Felipe's first school was established (San Felipe Pueblo Elementary School). At this time, San Felipe had approximately 100 residents.
• 1940; San Felipe first appears in the “cencus” having 287 residents.
• 1939 to 1945; (during World War 2) A road to San Felipe was built by the USA’s Army Corps of Engineers.
• 1950; Jose Maria Rodriguez Lujan donates to the state of Baja California 577 hectares of land. This establishes the legal estate of the town of San Felipe, as well as the Port of San Felipe.
• 1950’s; Seeing the potential for tourism as an economic strength, the first tourist facilities were built.
• 1963; San Felipe becomes more modern, as they are finally provided with electricity.
• 1994; One of the biggest economic boosters is about to happen that affected all of Mexico, and San Felipe in particular. Foreigners are finally allowed to own land in what is called the “restricted zone”. Due to this change in the law made by the Mexican government, Mexico and Baja California will never be the same.
• 2006; The vision of many people in San Felipe comes true, as the first of many regularly scheduled flights to San Felipe takes place. The San Felipe Developers Association enters into a contract agreement with Grey Eagle Aviation, an air charter company, to provide chartered air service to San Felipe, Baja Mexico. San Felipe is well on its way to becoming a major real estate and resort hot-spot.
As you can see, our proud little fishing village has truly become a vacation and retirement community that more people are talking about. The great thing about this town is that no matter how modern we become, and how much popularity we gain, we are still that same enchanting town and people that many have fallen in love with. So, what does the future hold for San Felipe? Come visit us and see for yourself.
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