er Francisco Parés at the Battle of Tres Palos. The independence of Mexico in 1821 ended the run of the Manila Galleon. Acapulco’s importance as a port recovered during the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century, with ships going to and coming from Panama stopping here.
In 1911, revolutionary forces took over the main plaza of Acapulco. In 1920, the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII) visited the area. Impressed by what he saw, he recommended the place in Europe, making it popular with the elite there. Much of the original hotel and trading infrastructure was built by an East Texas businessman named Albert B.Pullen from Corrigan, Tx. in the area now known as Old Acapulco. But some of Acapulco’s best known hotels were built by others. In 1933 Carlos Barnard started the first section of Hotel El Mirador, with 12 rooms on the cliffs of La Quebrada. Wolf Schoenborn purchased large amounts of undeveloped land and Albert Pullen built the Las Americas Hotel.
In the mid-1940s, the first commercial wharf and warehouses has been built. In the early 1950s President Miguel Alemán Valdés upgraded the port’s infrastructure, installing electrical lines, drainage systems, roads and the first highway to connect the port with Mexico City.
The economy grew and foreign investment increased with it. During the 1950s, Acapulco became the fashionable place for millionaires Hollywood stars such as Elizabeth Taylor,Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher and Brigitte Bardot. Former Swing Musician Teddy Stauffer, so called "Mister Acapulco", was a hotelowner ("Villa Vera", "Casablanca"), who attracted a lot of celebrities to Acapulco.
From a population of only 4,000 or 5,000 in the 1940s, by the early 1960s Acapulco had a population of about 50,000. In 1958, The Diocese of Acapulco was created by Pope Pius XII. It would become an archdiocese in 1983.
During the 1960s and 1970s, new hotel resorts were built, and accommodation and
