Mixcoac is an area of southern

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

which used to be a separate town and municipality within the Mexican Federal District until it was made part of Mexico City proper (the '' Departamento Central'' at the time) in 1928. Mixcoac consists of the '' colonias'' (official neighborhoods) of Nonoalco, San Juan, Extremadura Insurgentes, Mixcoac, and Insurgentes Mixcoac and is part of the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

of Benito Juárez. It is bounded by

Avenida de los Insurgentes Avenida de los Insurgentes ( en, Avenue of the Insurgents), sometimes known simply as Insurgentes, is the longest avenue in Mexico City, with a length of on a north-south axis across the city. Insurgentes has its origins in what was during the ...

to the east and the Periférico freeway to the west, south of

Colonia Nápoles Colonia Nápoles is a colonia, is an officially recognized neighborhood in Benito Juárez borough, Mexico City, and one of the iconic Mid-Century neighborhoods of Mexico City along with Colonia Del Valle. Location It is bordered by: * Viaducto ...

and

San Pedro de los Pinos San Pedro de los Pinos is a neighborhood located in center-west of Mexico City. Before being urbanized during the first half of the 20th century, the colonia was part of a vast farming area belonging to several ranches and haciendas. Location ...

. It is a designated ''Barrio Mágico'' ("magical neighborhood") of Mexico City.

History

The name "Mixcoac" comes from the

Nahuatl language Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan languages, Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in ...

mixtli (cloud), coatl (serpent), co (in), and means "Place of the Cloud Serpent", alluding to the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

and the god

Mixcóatl Mixcoatl ( nah, Mixcōhuātl}, from mixtli "cloud" and cōātl "serpent"), or Camaxtle or Camaxtli, was the god of the hunt and identified with the Milky Way, the stars, and the heavens in several Mesoamerican cultures. He was the patron deity ...

. Before the Spanish conquest there was a small settlement on the edge of Lake Texcoco, the lake that surrounded the island city of Tenochtitlan, today Mexico City. The ruins of the settlement, occupied between about 900 AD and 1521 AD, can be seen at the Mixcoac archeological site. After the Conquest, ranchos and haciendas were established in the area, as well as a textile factory which is today forms part of the Mexico City campus of the

Universidad Panamericana The Universidad Panamericana (Spanish: ''Universidad Panamericana''), commonly known as UP, is a private Catholic university founded in Mexico City. It has four campuses: the main Mixcoac campus in the Benito Juarez borough of south-western Mexi ...

. In the late 19th century, wealthy people from Mexico City began establishing summer residences here and in nearby towns such as

Tacubaya Tacubaya is a working-class area of west-central Mexico City, in the borough of Miguel Hidalgo, consisting of the '' colonia'' Tacubaya proper and adjacent areas in other colonias, with San Miguel Chapultepec sección II, Observatorio, Daniel Ga ...

, San Ángel and Coyoacán. In 1910 the large ''La Castañeda'' psychiatric hospital opened, functioning until 1967. In 1928 the Municipality of Mixcoac was absorbed into Mexico City proper, becoming part of a new '' Departamento Central'' within the Mexican Federal District. In 1910 the municipality had 21,812 residents with about 1900 dwellings. In the following decades the ranchos and haciendas were subdivided and the area became contiguous with the rest of the Mexico City urban area. Nonetheless the historic center of Mixcoac around the main square is largely intact.

Points of interest

Historic buildings and sites that still exist include: * Glorieta de Goya roundabout and park with a statue of Álvaro Obregón * Old textile factory (''Antiguo Obraje de Mixcoac'') -

: previously a silk clothing factory and now part of the university * Centro Cultural Juan Rulfo: former city hall built under President

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...

, now a cultural center * Casa de la Campana ("House of the Bell") * Plaza Jaurégui: Main square * House of Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi * Galería Arte Quimera Churches include the Parroquia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán (a.k.a. ''Ex Convento y Parroquia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán y Capilla de la Virgen del Rayo'', Ex-Convent and Parish of Santo Domingo de Guzmán and Chapel of the Virgin of the Ray), first founded in 1595. The

Manacar Manacar is a 22-story skyscraper (''Torre Manacar'', "Manacar Tower") and shopping center in the Insurgentes Mixcoac neighborhood of southern Mexico City at the intersection of the city's north-south artery, Avenida de los Insurgentes, and t ...

tower and shopping center is in colonia Insurgentes Mixcoac at the corner of Avenida Insurgentes and the

Circuito Interior The Circuito Interior Bicentenario ("Bicentennial Inner Loop") or more commonly, Circuito Interior or even more simply Circuito, is a 42-km-long (26 mi) urban freeway (in parts) and at-grade boulevard (in others), forming a loop around the centra ...

freeway.

Transportation

Mixcoac is served by the Mixcoac station of the

Mexico City metro The Mexico City Metro ( es, Metro de la Ciudad de México) is a rapid transit system that serves the metropolitan area of Mexico City, including some municipalities in Mexico State. Operated by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo (STC), it is ...

, lines 7 and 12.

Education

The

main campus is located in historic buildings in the historic heart of Insurgentes Mixcoac. Simón Bolívar University is in Mixcoac, as is its affiliated private primary and secondary school, Colegio Simón Bolívar.

Colegio La Salle Simón Bolívar Colegio La Salle Simón Bolívar is a private school system in Mexico City. It has two campuses: the Galicia Campus in Colonia Insurgentes, Mixcoac, Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican ...

, another private school, has two campuses in Mixcoac. The Mixcoac Campus of

Colegio Williams Colegio Williams ("Williams College") is a private school system in Mexico City, serving preschool through high school (senior high school). It has three campuses: Campus Mixcoac in Mixcoac, Benito Juárez; Campus San Jerónimo in San Jerónimo Lí ...

is also in Mixcoac.CAMPUS
."

. Retrieved on April 15, 2016. "Campus Mixcoac Empresa No. 8 Col. Mixcoac Deleg. Benito Juárez México D.F., C.P. 03910"

Notable residents

Notable residents of Mixcoac have included poets Octavio Paz and

Hart Crane Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Provoked and inspired by T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, '' The Brid ...

, chemist

Luis E. Miramontes Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas (March 16, 1925 – September 13, 2004) was a Mexican chemist known as the co-inventor of the progestin norethisterone used in one of the first three oral contraceptives. Miramontes was born in Tepic, Nayarit. H ...

co-inventor of the

progestin A progestogen, also referred to as a progestagen, gestagen, or gestogen, is a type of medication which produces effects similar to those of the natural product, natural female sex hormone progesterone in the body. A progestin is a ''synthetic co ...

norethisterone Norethisterone, also known as norethindrone and sold under many brand names, is a progestin medication used in birth control pills, menopausal hormone therapy, and for the treatment of gynecological disorders. The medication is available in both ...

used in one of the first three oral contraceptives, Mexican president

Valentín Gómez Farías Valentín Gómez Farías (; 14 February 1781 – 5 July 1858) was a Mexican physician and liberal politician who became president of Mexico twice, first in 1833, during the period of the First Mexican Republic, and again in 1846, during the ...

, director José Solé, and authors

José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi (November 15, 1776 – June 21, 1827), Mexican writer and political journalist, best known as the author of ''El Periquillo Sarniento'' (1816), translated as ''The Mangy Parrot'' in English, reputed to be the f ...

, whose house is used for classrooms of the

and

Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980) was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel ''Ship of Fools'' was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her sho ...

, the American story writer and novelist, who later translated one of Lizardi's works.

Gallery

File:Parroquia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán.jpg, Parroquía de Santo Domingo de Guzmán File:Parroquia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, interior.jpg, Interior of the Parroquía File:Atrio Santo Domingo Mixcoac.jpg, Atrium of the Parroquía File:Parroquia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán (Insurgentes Mixcoac) 2012-09-30 13-50-13.jpg, Capilla de la Virgen del Rayo File:Parroquia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, patio.jpg, Claustro del ex-convento de Santo Domingo File:FVH 00082 1 Parroquia de San Juan Evangelista (Insurgentes Mixcoac).jpg, Parroquia de San Juan Evangelista y nuestra señora de Guadalupe File:Fachada Obraje.jpg, Façade of the Obraje de Mixcoac (textile factory) File:Casa de la Cultura Juan Rulfo, entrada principal..jpg, Centro Cultural Juan Rulfo, former Ayuntamiento (City Hall) of Mixcoac File:Portales de Mixcoac.jpg, Portales de Mixcoac, former Banderas family house File:Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora 01.jpg, Instituto Mora, house of

File:Casa lizardi.jpg, House of

File:Casa del portico Mixcoac.jpg, Casa del Portico, now the IBBY Library File:Casa de la Campana.jpg, Casa de la Campana File:Casa Serralde.JPG, Casa Serralde File:Callejon del diablo.jpg, Callejón del diablo ("Devil's Alley") File:El Muro de la Paz - Plaza Agustín Jáuregi - Mixcoac - Mexico 2024.jpg, Muro de la Paz ("Peace Wall") File:Secundaria Mixcoac.jpg, Leopoldo Ayala high school File:Fuente símbolo de identidad histórica de Mixcoac.jpg, Fountain symbolizing Mixcoac's historic identity

Sources

"Mixcoac", ''Mexico Desconocido''"Mixcoac, el Barrio Mágico de la Ciudad", ''Chilango'', 2012-08-13Crónicas y relatos de México - Los tesoros de Mixcoac (30/01/2014)

References

External links

(in Spanish)

(in Spanish) {{coord, 19.3761, N, 99.1877, W, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:MX, display=title Benito Juárez, Mexico City Neighborhoods in Mexico City Former municipalities of the Mexican Federal District