Tecpatitlan

Tecpatitlan, later known as Tepatitlán, was a Tecuexe settlement in the highlands of Los Altos. It stood among indigenous communities north of Guadalajara, with a local ruler named Mapelo remembered in accounts of the Spanish arrival. The surrounding countryside later acquired Spanish ranches and estates while the town remained an indigenous community. Its early churches dedicated to Saint Francis were modest adobe chapels with roofs of thatch and tile.

In 1530 Pedro Almíndez Chirinos reached Tecpatitlan during the expedition of Nuño de Guzmán. Local tradition records that Mapelo received him and guided him toward Zacatec country. During the Mexican War of Independence, insurgents under the priest Ramos took the town after a battle in 1811. Tepatitlán received the title of villa in 1824, after independence.