We spent a lovely weekend Feb 25 and 26 with our friends Manuel and Alejandra touring "magic towns" in the State of Mexico. The first stop was El Oro. We took a bus from Queretaro to Atlacomulco where we were met by Manuel and Alejandra; we set out for "El Oro" from there. The town is named after the gold mining that was the dominant reason for its existence for some 200 years.

The Palacio Municipal and Teatro Juarez are architectural treasures of the town, both built about 1910 by the Porfirio Diaz administration. The gold mines were owned by English and French expatriates who had taken over during the middle of the 19th century. Their influence led to Neoclassic and Art Nouveau styles, adopted for the Palace and the Theatre. The Municipal Palace entrance is dominated by the mural “The genius of the miner” by Manuel D’Rugama. Enrico Caruso and Angela Peralta sang in the Teatro Juarez. After the Mexican Revolution, when the Lazaro Cardenas administration expropriated many foreign-owned enterprises, the mines of El Oro were among them. By that time (1937) the mines were already nearly exhausted, despite massive infrastructure investments. The last mines, part of the famous “Dos Estrellas” company, closed in 1958.