Municipality of San Francisco de Becerra de Olancho
San Francisco de Becerra is a municipality in the department of Olancho in Honduras.
The village of San Francisco de Asís was founded on October 4, 1657 by the clergymen Fray Fernando de Espino, Fray Pedro de Ovalle, Ovalle Bersuam, and Lorenzo de Guevara. According to the historian Carmen Fiallos, it was an incipient outpost for the establishment of encomiendas and indigenous control on the eastern bank of the Guayape River.
In 1870, a wealthy man named José María Barahona owned a corral in the place where the Catholic Church stands today, and Juana de Rojas, the owner of the «El Oriental» estate located by the Iscamile stream, three kilometers from the town, donated 3 caballerías of land and built 2 wooden corrals in what is now the central park.
According to records, there was a thriving livestock industry, so the natives of San Francisco de Asís, as well as outsiders and landowners from the surrounding areas, began to call it San Francisco del Corral, or San Francisco de Corrales.
In 1881, the inhabitants of San Francisco de Corrales began the construction of the Catholic Church. The construction lasted for 2 years, and the church was inaugurated during the San Francisco fair of 1882. The mason in charge of the construction was Mr. Marcos Cárcamo, and the person responsible for the carpentry and roof was Mr. Julio Sosa.
In the population census of 1887, conducted by Father Antonio R. Vallejo during the government of Dr. Marco Aurelio Soto, it appeared as a village of Juticalpa.
Among the early settlers, the history records the marriage of Juan Bautista and Catalina Canelas. Later, a wealthy man named José María Barahona, who already had a corral in the place currently occupied by the Catholic Church, arrived. He was the father of the lawyer Francisco Barahona. The families of Feliciano and Dionisio Erazo, Dionisio Padilla, and Pedro Vindel also settled in the area. It was not until 1917 that, through a request made to the executive branch by Rafael Erazo, Miguel Cerrato, Jerónimo Henríquez, and Sebastián Oliva, San Francisco de Corrales became a municipality.
The Charter of the Municipality states, among other clauses, the following:
… therefore, the President of the Republic, exercising the powers conferred by Articles 2, 3, and 7 of the Municipal Law, decrees… … to resolve… the creation of the new Municipality, to be named San Francisco de Becerra and composed of the Villages of San Luís and Laguna Seca… … to order that the Authorities of the new Municipality be legally elected on the last Sunday of July 1917, to be inaugurated and take office on September 15 of the current year… … NOTIFY, Francisco Bertrand, President of the Republic.
Francisco José Mejía – Secretary of Governance and Justice.
First Municipal Corporation
- Mayor Salvador Alcántara Mendoza
- Councilor No. 1 Cástulo Zapata
- Councilor No. 2 Jerónimo Oliva Henríquez
- Municipal Syndic José Irene Zapata
- Municipal Secretary Alfonso Mejía Martínez
- Justice of the Peace Manuel Gallo Martínez.
The Municipal Palace began operating in the house of Don Santiago Padilla, one block north of the central park, where the Municipal Government was installed.
Apparently, the first teacher who took charge of teaching the children of San Francisco de Becerra was Mrs. Dominga Chirinos de Bonilla, mother of General Manuel Bonilla. She lived on the La Roqueta estate, in the current village of Pueblo Viejo, four kilometers south of the municipal urban area.
In 1918, the Telegraph was installed, with the first telegraphists being Mr. Heriberto Girón Jácome and Vicente Cruz. Another telegraphist in San Francisco was Mr. Carlos Zapata, after whom the central park is named, which happened in 2006.
In 1927, the «José Trinidad Reyes» School was founded, and the first teachers who taught there came from Juticalpa.
Later, the school was reinaugurated in 1969, and it was named Dominga Chirinos de Bonilla in honor of the venerable first teacher.
Toponymy
Its first name was San Francisco de Asís, but it was changed to its current name at the time of its foundation because a man with the last name Becerra, who had a lot of influence on the neighbors, offered his surname for that purpose.
Location
The municipality borders the municipalities of Juticalpa and Santa María del Real to the north, Juticalpa and Patuca to the south, Juticalpa to the west, and Santa María del Real and Catacamas to the east. It is located southeast of the Olancho department’s headquarters, 13 linear kilometers away, and near the Guayape River.
Villages
- San Francisco de Becerra
- Bella Vista
- El Guineo
- Laguna Seca
- Las Tres Ceibas
- San Luis
- El Higuerito
