History of Reynosa, Mexico

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Reynosa was founded on March 14, 1749. Officially, Reynosa was named after "Rienosa", a city in Spain. The patron saint of Reynosa is the Virgin of Guadalupe, who is also the patron saint of Mexico. December 12th is the Virgin of Guadalupe's day, which is celebrated up to two weeks in the city by many parades.

In the founding years, Reynosa was a hub of a region of "Nuevo Espana" by the same name. This region extended as far north as the Nueces River, west to Laredo, east to the mouth of the river and south toward Monterrey. The primary commerce was cattle ranching. Thus the traditional dress for the region is outfits made from soft, hand painted leather. Cattle continued to be a major part of the economy until irrigation brought in cotton, sugar cane, sorghum and corn. In 1848 when the international boundary was drawn conclusively, most of the cattle land was taken away from the region.

The U.S. army occupied Reynosa for two years, 1846 - 1848, even celebrating the 4th of July with a military parade in "Hidalgo" one of the main streets of the town.

The tourist zone or "pink zone" of Reynosa was established in the early 1900's by the prohibition of alcohol in the United States.

Also in the same time period the railroad through Reynosa was established. The original train depot in Reynosa still exists, close to the market zone in downtown.

In 1927 the bull-fighting ring "Plaza de Toros" was built with capacity for 5,000 people. It is still functioning, near the street "Luis Echeverria".

Currently, the population of Reynosa is estimated to be more than 1 million people. Previous numbers were 500,000, but these numbers did not include the huge suburbs that have developed in the last 20 years.

The petroleum refinery in Reynosa produces about a quarter of all petroleum products in Mexico.

Reynosa has a large number of factories and large plants. The government figure in 1998 was 90 large plants located in 5 industrial parks, but now there are at least 7 industrial parks and perhaps as many as 150 plants. These plants are the largest single employer in Reynosa, with more than 60,000 people employed.

Factory workers earn about 8 to 10 dollars a day, with medical and dental benefits and six weeks of paid vacations a year (One month at Christmas, two weeks at Easter plus summer holidays). At the high end of the scale, 10 - 12 dollars a day, this would be considered lower middle class. Thousands of vehicles a day cross each international bridge.

Beans, rice or pasta and tortillas play a major role in the diet of the average lower middle class Mexican family. Tamales and fajita meat are for special and holiday meals and for very special meals "cabrito", young goat, is served. There are four meals in a typical day - and early breakfast, breakfast as late as 11:00, dinner about 2 p.m. and supper generally after 8 p.m. A typical early breakfast would be coffee and "pan dulce", sweet bread. Breakfast would probably consist of eggs, potatoes and tortillas. Dinner would be lighter than a typical North American dinner. Supper may be a heavy meal or if dinner was a heavy meal, leftovers from dinner. Most tortillas eaten are corn tortillas, which are very cheap, about 25 cents for a package of 40 or so.