rofitable."
By 1865, Matamoros was described as a prosperous town of 30,000 people, and Lew Wallace informed General Ulysses S. Grant that neither Baltimore or New Orleans could compare itself to the growing commercial activity of Matamoros. Nevertheless, after the collapse of the Confederacy, "gloom, despondency, and despair" became evident in Matamoros—markets shut down, business almost ceased to exist, and ships were rarely seen. "For Sale" signs began to sprout up everywhere, and Matamoros returned to its role of a sleepy little border town across the Rio Grande.
The conclusion of the American Civil War brought a severe crisis to the now abandoned Port of Bagdad, a crisis that until this day the port has never recovered from. In addition, a tremendous hurricane in 1889 destroyed the desolated port. This same hurricane was one of the many hurricanes during the period of devastating hurricanes of 1870 to 1889, which reduced the population of Matamoros to nearly half its size, mounting with it another upsetting economic downturn.
French intervention
During the French intervention, the port of Bagdad was the scene for the Battle of Bagdad, where the Mexican army defeated the French army and its conservative allies.
This section requires expansion. (November 2011)
During the course of the Mexican Revolution, the generals Francisco Mújica and Lucio Blanco executed the first agrarian reform for land in the country (1913). Consequently, in the years to come, Matamoros enjoyed another golden era during The Cotton Age, from 1948 to 1962. This epoch placed Matamoros as the finest and largest cotton producer and exporter in the state of Tamaulipas and of the country.
Modern era
Since the ‘70s, and especially during the ‘90s, after the initiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, foreign investment has multiplied in Matamoros, resulting in an
