Tolnahuac station

Neighbouring stations

• 3Line 3Circuito ← Tolnahuac → Tlatelolco

The story behind the icon

The station icon represents a reed bed. The station takes its name from being located in the San Simón Tolnahuac neighbourhood, as well as from a nearby street of that name. Around 1873 this subdivision was begun on the lands of the village and barrio of San Simón Tolnahuac. The neighbourhood was an old village that formed part of the lordship of Tlatelolco and that some years ago was absorbed into Mexico City; its lands were communal ejido property and were parcelled out as the capital grew. Until 1928, when the City Council ceased its activity, the neighbourhood was the last village to the north of the municipality. From the last quarter of the nineteenth century it was settled by railway workers because of the closeness of the Nonoalco station, who even call the northern tip of the neighbourhood "La Ferrocarrilera".

Tolnáhuac is a Nahuatl word meaning "in the reed bed". A reed bed is a community of herbaceous plants rooted at the bottom of marshy ground or on the shores of lakes and lagoons, in warm as well as temperate regions; it is characterised by long, narrow leaves and the plants are known as tules. Their ecological importance is great, being a place of feeding and breeding for numerous resident and migratory animals, and people use these plants as fodder and for craftwork.

Tolnahuac also refers to the place within sacred precincts, the theatre of sacrifices that took place on the day 1 Miquiztli, where human lives were immolated in the cult of Tezcatlipoca, one of the four creator gods of Mexica mythology.