Founding History of Piedras Negras, Coahuila

With the border crisis, you always hear more about the cities on the United States side, but you hear slightly less about the towns in Mexico. With Texas being one of the biggest states in the United States, you would expect to hear very little from its neighbor across the river.

Piedras Negras is a city in Coahuila, Mexico, across from Eagle Pass, Texas. It is a small town in Mexico, and while it might be a small town, it has a rich history throughout the area. When driving or even walking through the International Bridge, you can walk into an open area with monuments, colorful buildings, and historical museums.

Piedras Negras was initially founded in 1773.

“The origin of what today is known as Piedras Negras can be traced back to 1773 with the Presidio de Monclova Viejo,” said Francisco Trevino-Gallegos, Research student at Sul Ross State University. “The Mission takes care of the evangelization of the Natives while the presidio protects the mission from Apache groups who were expelled to the west.”

A presidio is a military position that helps protect the Misiones surrounding the presidio.

“After the Mexican independence, Coahuila and Texas were unified as one territory around 1824-1835,” said Francisco Trevino-Gallegos. “The dispute of the territory from the Rio Nueces and Rio Bravo lasted another decade until it was settled down by the Mexican-American War in 1846.”

The conflicts with Texas and the United States shaped the creation of Piedras Negras in 1850.

The name of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, has always been a huge factor in history. They have gone through many changes throughout history, and the names throughout have been close to the current name.

El Paso de Piedras Negras was the foundation site for what we know today as Piedras Negras, Coahuila. Piedras Negras is Spanish for “Black Stones.”

“The Military Colony of Guerrero, “Piedras Negras,” moved on to be Villa Piedras Negras,” said Francisco Trevino-Gallegos. “In 1888, The Villa Piedras Negras changed its name temporarily to Ciudad Porfirio Diaz; after the Revolution, the name was changed back to Ciudad Piedras Negras.”

Piedras Negras’s government had changed the village’s status to a city, modernizing the town.

The bridge’s history connecting Piedras Negras, Coahuila, with Eagle Pass, Texas, has had issues, but it was first established in 1890.

“It was destroyed to stop a flood that same year in September. By 1896, it was established again,” said Francisco Trevino-Gallegos. But once again, it was replaced by the ones we have today, which were in 1927 and 1954.

There are currently two international bridges going from Mexico to Texas, and they will begin construction on the International Bridge.

With the changing city of Eagle Pass, there has always been a big community for Mexican Americans born in the United States. Maquiladoras were established on the northern frontier of Coahuila.

“People in southwest Coahuila moved to Piedras Negras and Acuna to find better job opportunities throughout the installation of factories because of the NAFTA treaty,” said Francisco Trevino-Gallegos. “It is the same with other states from Mexico like Veracruz, Durango, and even Mexico State.”

Over time, Piedras Negras was known for the creation of Nachos in 1945.

Historically, Piedras Negras is known mostly for the Mexican Revolution. It began with a man named Francisco I. Madero.

“The attempt to overthrow Diaz’s dictatorship in a city with his name could be seen as a poetic attack on Diaz’s ego; that same day, Madero went to Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, to continue the revolution,”  said Francisco Trevino-Gallegos. “Carbon was necessary for the trains and the bullets used in the revolution, even some canyons were assembled in Piedras Negras.”

At the time “Madero called Piedras Negras Ciudad Porfirio Diaz.”

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This project was created through a journalism class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies Department. This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club.