Village Story
This series of murals graces the San Pancho boardwalk (malecon). They tell the story of San Pancho in pictures.
San Pancho was established a little more than 70 years ago when most of this area consisted of haciendas (large family-owned farms). In 1915, there were only five houses. The primary employment was harvesting oil-coconuts.
The Sayulita ejido (communal land trust) was established in the 1930's as part of national agrarian reform. By the 1940's a few more families had moved to San Pancho and were growing corn and bananas. In 1960, there were approximately 34 ejidatarios (members of the land trust) and about 80 palapa (thatched roof) houses. In 1966, the federal road was built and our village was officially named San Francisco.
In 1970, Mexican President Luís Echeverría Álvarez brought progress to our town, building modern houses and the General Hospital.
A University and several factories were established, producing dairy products, meats, soaps, and other things. At that time the streets were paved.
Resources were donated for cattle grazing and, in 1975, the first party honoring Saint Francis was celebrated, organized by Doña Oliva Soltero García.
At the end of President Echeverría’s time in office, political changes led to a decrease in development funding. As a result, of all the new infrastructure, only the General Hospital remained. The first stone of the Church was set on March 3, 1999. Señor Dar Peters (1953-2005) donated the statue of Saint Francis that resides on the boardwalk.
Today the inhabitants of San Pancho have joined in public-private partnership to improve education and sports facilities, dig new water wells, remodel the boardwalk, and continue to improve living conditions for all who live in this wonderful town.