Colonia Guerrero has a long history, beginning as an indigenous neighbourhood in the colonial period. Over the 20th century, several rail lines and major arteries were built through here, changing its character from a mostly quiet neighbourhood to one of the most dangerous boroughs. It is home to two early colonial era churches, the Franz Mayer Museum and one Neo-Gothic church from the Porfirian era.
Today the Colonia is considered to be the most dangerous one in the Cuauhtémoc borough, with a number of high profile murders and gangland-style executions in 2010. Crime statistics here are more than 50% more than average, mostly consisting of robbery, family violence, home invasion and drug sales.
The modern Colonia Guerrero began in the first half of the 19th century, but most of its development occurred as a residential area in the late 19th and early 20th century. The borough was originally established from horse facilities around 1873. The first church in the area was built in 1524, with a rotunda added in 1667.
Another church from the early 19th century, Los Angeles, was founded in 1808 in what was called the Barrio de Los Angeles, which was separate from the city but is now part of the Colonia. The modern neighbourhood began to take shape in the beginning of the 19th century, and it grew after the demolition of part of the monastery of San Fernando. In the last decades of the century, the horse facilities were owned by Rafael Martinez de la Torre, who created the Rancho de Santa María. Later, he subdivided it into housing units. The new Colonia had a small plaza or park which was named after Martinez de la Torre. The first urban train in Mexico City operated in the mid 19th century and passed through this area, heading north to the Villa of Guadalupe. At the beginning of the 20th century, electric trolleys were introduced, with two lines passing through here, one providing service from between San Juan and Lerdo and the other between the Zócalo and ending here.
Although the Santa Veracruz Church, the Franz Mayer Museum and the San Hipólito Church are associated with the historic centre of the city due to their locations along Hidalgo Street, they are officially located in Colonia Guerrero. The Santa Veracruz Church is one of the oldest religious establishments in Mexico City.
The church was the third-most important church in the area in the 16th century. It was established by a religious brotherhood founded by Hernán Cortés. The parish church was originally erected in 1586, but this building was replaced in the 18th century with the one standing today.
The former monastery building and hospital now house the Franz Mayer Museum. Most of its interior decorations are gone, but it is still home to two important images, the Christ of the Seven Veils and the Virgin of the Remedies (also called La Gachupina).
The Franz Mayer museum houses the largest collection of decorative and utilitarian items in Mexico, most of which was collected by the museum’s founder Franz Mayer. The collection includes dishes, ceramics, furniture, textiles, sculptures, paintings and more from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
The San Hipólito Church on the corner of Hidalgo and Paseo de la Reforma marks the location where the majority of Spanish lives were lost during the Spanish Conquest of Mexico in 1521. After the Conquest, the Spanish founded a hermitage here in 1559 to commemorate their dead. The church was expanded to include a hospital at the end of the 17th century.