Properly speaking, The Atunara or Tunara, later a slum area, should not be considered as a contemporary part of the line because its origins date back to some 640 years before the city itself.
On July 20, 1870 La Línea got its first mayor, Lutgardo López Muñoz, chosen by a committee of residents appointed by the provincial council. At the first meeting of the new city hall, it was unanimously decided the name should be La Línea de la Concepción, as the Immaculate Conception was deeply rooted in Spanish army tradition of the time. The name is recorded from 1883.
King Alfonso XIII gave the title of "town" to La Línea de la Concepción in 1913.
Confrontations with modern Gibraltar
Spanish dictator Francisco Franco ordered the closure of the border gate on June 8, 1969, in response to the new Gibraltar Constitution. Thousands of people from La Línea lost their jobs in Gibraltar with a heavy social and economic toll in the city.
Protests were undertaken against the presence of the nuclear submarine HMS Tireless in Gibraltar for repairs in 2001.
In 2010, the People's Party mayor of La Línea, Alejandro Sanchez, attempted to impose a so-called "congestion charge" on people entering or leaving Gibraltar, despite having been told by the Spanish Government that such a charge would be a breach of national and international EU law
