History of El Banco

Opposite the cathedral is a monument commemorating the bloody battle river of the smoke , the June 17, 1885. which was crucial in the collapse of the federal Constitution of 1863 and the Charter 86 favored. There rebel troops defeated the government, but to a human and material cost so high that they were unable to continue operating.

At these events, described the poet José María Vargas Vila Bogota, veteran of the smoke and at the tomb of the heroes of the smoke he wrote some heartfelt phrases that are still valid:

"The Bank, Port immortal, you keep the ashes of the most tremendous fire, offal brunt of the storm. Thou art to an altar of the homeland and memories of glory and sublime teachings. A future generations you will come to retemper patriotism and when they want to learn it: Only a slave if you will and if you lack the courage to die. "

A few years after this battle, in 1904, a fire destroyed almost half of the houses. They were preparing for the festivities of Our Lady of Candelaria, which was restarted just after the War of a Thousand Days . The story goes that in the midst of the midday torpor, and while the population was napping, a vulture (or goalkeeper, coastal language) stole a catfish in the house corner of 5th Street and Carrera 4, diagonal to the park, responsible for washing dishes in the wheel house of the Lord to scare the animal came to throw a firebrand, falling on the thatch, started the conflagration. There he began largest fire has supported the Bank: 30 houses were consumed by the flames. The people would then have a 90-100 homes