Abstract

GOMEZ SERRANO, Jesús. The Business of the Banking Company and the Mexican Central Bank in the Provinces: The Renovation of the Potable Water Distribution System in Aguascalientes, 1905-1914. Hist. mex. [online]. 2024, vol.73, n.3, pp.1125-1203.  Epub Jan 22, 2024. ISSN 2448-6531.  https://doi.org/10.24201/hm.v73i3.4699.

In March 1910, the governor of Aguascalientes contracted the Development and Real Estate Banking Company to renovate the potable water distribution system in the state capital, with a 1.3-million-peso loan from the Mexican Central Bank to pay for the project. Work was completed between April and May 1911, at the same time as the Porfirian regime collapsed. Through archival documentation and periodical sources, this article traces the origins of these contracts, how they ended up in the company’s hands, the revolutionary government’s refusal to recognize them in February 1912 and the pressure on the local authorities by the company’s lobbyists. It also engages in comparative regional history through an analysis of developments in Pue bla, Querétaro and Oaxaca, states in which the Banking Company, the Mexican Central Bank and affiliated companies also engaged in the construction of new sanitary and water supply systems. It follows the trail of the bonds issued by the government of Aguascalientes, which were allegedly sold on the Paris Bourse, but which never actually left the bank’s safe. The unfortunate end to this business in Aguascalientes was one of the factors that led to the collapse of the Banking Company and the Mexican Central Bank in late 1913.

Keywords : comparative regional history; Porfiriato; potable water supply; urbanization financing; state government public debt.

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