Brief History of Urdaneta City

  One hundred twelve years ago, January 8, 1858 to be exact, in the near eastern part of Pangasinan, a municipality was born. History has not been clear on how her name came about. The name links her to that famous aide of Magellan, Father Simon de Urdaneta, soldier, navigator, cosmographer and evangelist, after whom she has been named.

  It is not surprising that she was named after Father Urdaneta because it was another priest who helped found her, Father Nicolas Manrique Alonzo with the help of hardy pioneers from the Ilocos provinces. The beginning was the clearing of a vast forest that was Urdaneta then followed by the erection of the Urdaneta Roman Catholic church and convent. The fruition of such bold undertaking of both ministers of faith and the settlers was a flourishing village organized into a town under the headship of Don Tomas Manzano in 1837, who was designated Capitan. The seat of government which is better known by its present-day English equivalent as "tribunal" was the old convent. And Urdaneta was launched as a town. The inception of the town brought forth its final inauguration as a municipality the following year, with its own town hall, the Capitan Municipal, Don Florentino Benito. Capitan Benito was followed by an impressive array of local historical greats as Capitan, with Don Ignacio Fangon as the last of the Capitanes.

Today, Urdaneta City serves as the commercial center of eastern Pangasinan. It became a city in 1997 by virtue of RA #8480.