Santa Rosalía, the French-built copper mining town on the Gulf coast of Baja California Sur, launched its 141st founding anniversary celebrations this week. The kickoff ceremony took place at La Fundición, the restored smelter site at the heart of town. Mulegé Mayor Edith Aguilar Villavicencio led the event, which also marked three years since Santa Rosalía earned its Pueblo Mágico designation from the federal government.
Delegations from fellow Pueblos Mágicos Loreto and Todos Santos attended, along with officials from all three levels of government. The opening day featured a queen pageant, a business and artisan expo, live music, and a student tourism project presented by winners of a science fair at Colegio Salvatierra. Fishing cooperatives, local artisans, and small business owners also exhibited at the expo inside the La Fundición grounds.
French Mining Company Founded the Town in 1885
Santa Rosalía sits roughly 600 miles north of Los Cabos on the Transpeninsular Highway, perched above the Sea of Cortez in the municipality of Mulegé. The town owes its existence to the Compagnie du Boléo, a French mining company that arrived in 1885 to extract copper from the surrounding hills. The company built the town from scratch: wood-frame houses shipped as prefabricated kits from France, a company store, a hospital, a railroad, and the port infrastructure that still serves the community today.
The most famous remnant of this French colonial period is the Iglesia de Santa Bárbara, a prefabricated iron church widely attributed to the workshop of Gustave Eiffel. According to local history, the structure was designed for a World’s Fair exhibition, then purchased and shipped to Santa Rosalía in the 1890s. The church still holds services on the town’s main plaza. Its corrugated iron walls and bolted frame make it unlike any other church in Mexico.
The Boléo company operated until 1954, when the Mexican government nationalized the mines. A Korean-owned mining company, Minera y Metalúrgica del Boléo, reopened copper and cobalt extraction in the area around 2012, though production has been intermittent. Today the town’s economy relies on fishing, small-scale commerce, and a growing stream of tourism. Santa Rosalía also serves as the departure point for the TMC ferry to Guaymas, Sonora, one of only two ferry routes connecting the Baja peninsula to mainland Mexico.
Pueblo Mágico Designation Brought Federal Tourism Funds in 2022
Mexico’s Pueblos Mágicos program, run by the federal tourism ministry, grants special status to towns with historical, cultural, or natural significance. Santa Rosalía received its designation in 2022, joining Loreto and Todos Santos as one of three Pueblos Mágicos in Baja California Sur. The program provides federal funding for infrastructure improvements, signage, façade restoration, and tourism promotion. Nationally, Mexico recognizes 177 Pueblos Mágicos across all 32 states.
In Santa Rosalía, the designation has supported restoration work along the town’s historic mesa district, where rows of French-era wooden houses line narrow streets above the port. The town has also added bilingual signage and improved access to the old mine tunnels that dot the hillsides. Mayor Aguilar Villavicencio said at this week’s ceremony that the municipality remains committed to preserving Santa Rosalía’s heritage and expanding its tourism capacity.
Still, the town faces real infrastructure challenges. Santa Rosalía’s population sits at roughly 14,000. Summer temperatures regularly exceed 110°F. Water supply is limited, and the ferry terminal, while functional, has seen irregular service schedules in recent years. The town lacks the hotel inventory of La Paz or Los Cabos, though a handful of small hotels and Airbnb listings serve visitors passing through on Highway 1.
Anniversary Week Offers a Reason to Stop on Highway 1
For anyone driving the Transpeninsular Highway between Guerrero Negro and Loreto, Santa Rosalía is a natural midpoint stop. The town sits about four hours south of Guerrero Negro and 90 minutes north of Mulegé. Beyond the Eiffel church and the mesa district, visitors can tour the old Boléo mine works, browse the waterfront malecón, and sample the town’s signature pan francés, a crusty French-style bread still baked in wood-fired ovens at local bakeries like Panadería El Boléo.
The anniversary celebrations are expected to continue through the coming days with additional cultural programming, music, and community events at La Fundición and other venues around town. The original reporting was published by BCS Noticias.