Visiting historian, Dr. Juan Carlos Holguin Balderrama, will speak on "The impact that Alamos had on the Southwestern United States" on Thursday, February 16 at 6 PM at Scottsdale's Museum of the West.
The “pueblo mágico” of Álamos, Sonora, the northernmost colonial city in Mexico, exists today because a vein of silver ore discovered in 1683 became so productive that a town was established to house the Spanish owners and indigenous workers needed to produce the silver ore. A city of grand archways and spacious mansions emerged, and for the next 200 years “trains” of up to 1,000 mules carried thousands of tons of silver south to Mexico City. By 1900 the silver was no longer plentiful, and during the revolution (1910-1921) the wealthy families fled from their spacious homes and grand pianos, and a city which once had 30,000 residents became a “ghost town” of less than a thousand. The town revived in the late 1940s when Americans and Canadians discovered the pristine ruin and restored Álamos to the elegance and beauty of previous centuries. Álamos today, the jewel of Sonora, has 10,000 people living in one of Mexico’s most charming cities.
Join us for a bilingual presentation in the auditorium of Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West at 6 PM on Feb. 16th, 3830 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale. Admission is free. Registration requested. Register for Feb. 16 talk here.