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| Mormon colonies in Mexico | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mormon colonies in Mexico |
| Native name | Colonias mormonas en México |
| Established | 1885 |
| Founder | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
| Regions | Chihuahua, Baja California, Sonora, Nuevo León |
| Population | varied (peaked early 20th century) |
| Languages | Spanish, English |
| Religions | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
Mormon colonies in Mexico are settlements founded by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in northern Mexico. They emerged as responses to legal pressures in the United States, territorial opportunities in Mexico, and missionary, communal, and agricultural ambitions of LDS pioneers associated with figures and institutions such as Brigham Young, John Taylor, Erastus Snow, Heber J. Grant, Wilford Woodruff, and the Council of Fifty. These colonies intersected with cross-border dynamics involving the Mexican Revolution, Porfirio Díaz, Pancho Villa, Venustiano Carranza, and regional actors, producing a complex legacy in settlement patterns, culture, and transnational identity.
The colonial movement grew out of tensions following the Manifesto (1890) issued by Wilford Woodruff and US federal prosecutions under laws such as the Edmunds Act and Edmunds–Tucker Act, prompting relocation initiatives tied to leadership figures including Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Heber J. Grant. Early planning involved coordination with diplomats like Anson P. Call and settlers who negotiated with Mexican officials during the Porfiriato under Porfirio Díaz. The colonies were affected by armed conflicts involving Mexican Revolution generals such as Francisco I. Madero, Victoriano Huerta, Emiliano Zapata, and Pancho Villa, and by US interventions like the Veracruz intervention and policies under presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.
Initial colonization efforts began in 1885 with scouting by LDS leaders and agents including Moses Thatcher and George Q. Cannon. Founding settlements included Colonia Juárez, Colonia Dublán, Colonia García, and Colonia Díaz, established in cooperation with Mexican landowners and officials such as Porfirio Díaz’s local administrators. Colonists utilized irrigation techniques derived from Great Basin irrigation projects and drew on expertise from Utah settlements like Salt Lake City and St. George, guided by agricultural advisors from institutions such as Brigham Young Academy and ties to settlers from Manti and Provo. Early colony governance involved local LDS Church structures, stakes, and leaders like A. Milton Musser and Hyrum Mack Smith.
Populations included converts from Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and California, as well as Mexican nationals and Indigenous peoples such as Tarahumara and Rarámuri interacting with colonists. Cultural life reflected practices from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—including observances tied to the Word of Wisdom and Relief Society activities—alongside Mexican customs from Chihuahua and neighboring regions. Prominent individuals who shaped cultural institutions included Luis E. Dahle, R. T. Burton, Reed Smoot (as a US senator linked to LDS affairs), and missionaries linked to the Missionary Department. Education drew on models from Brigham Young Academy and later interactions with Mexican schools under the Secretaría de Educación Pública reforms of José Vasconcelos.
Agricultural production hinged on crops such as wheat, corn, alfalfa, and orchards supplemented by dairy farming and cotton cultivation, with technological transfer from Utah State Agricultural Experiment Station practices and irrigation methods similar to those in Provo River Project. Colonies participated in regional markets linking to Ciudad Juárez, El Paso, Douglas, and Chihuahua City. Cooperative economic models resembled those in Mormon communalism experiments and drew on credit relationships with Zions Bancorporation-affiliated institutions, local merchants, and transportation connections via rail lines like the Mexican Central Railway and Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacífico.
Relations with Mexican officials ranged from negotiation with local municipal authorities to diplomacy with national figures including Porfirio Díaz and later revolutionary leaders. Colonists negotiated land titles under Mexican law interacting with institutions such as the Registro Agrario Nacional. Conflicts and accommodations involved neighbors in Nuevo Casas Grandes and interactions with Chihuahua ranching elites. During the Mexican Revolution, encounters with forces led by Pancho Villa and Pancho Villa shaped security concerns, prompting appeals to US consular officials in Ciudad Juárez and engagements with American entities like the United States Department of State.
Political instability during the Mexican Revolution and subsequent border policing under treaties like the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo’s legacy produced waves of temporary and permanent migration back to the United States, with returnees settling in places such as Nauvoo-linked communities and Colonia Juárez survivors resettling in Arizona and New Mexico. Later 20th-century changes included land reform initiatives under Lázaro Cárdenas and rural policies during the PRI era, impacting land tenure and prompting legal strategies with institutions like the Registro Agrario Nacional. Contemporary developments feature bicultural families, tourism to sites in Colonia Juárez and Colonia Dublán, and heritage efforts involving scholars from universities such as University of Utah, Brigham Young University, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, and archives held by the LDS Church History Department.
Colonial architecture combined pioneer building techniques with regional materials, producing adobe homes, irrigation systems, and community buildings including meetinghouses and schoolhouses influenced by designs in Salt Lake Temple era communities. Town layouts reflected grid patterns seen in Salt Lake City with plazas and communal waterworks akin to those used in Spanish colonial missions and ejido systems. Notable structures and landscapes in Colonia Juárez and Colonia Dublán have been subjects of preservation efforts by local historians and institutions such as the Chihuahua State Historical Society and heritage programs linked to Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
Category:History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:Chihuahua (state)