Tacuarembó

History and Legends

In October 24, 1831, a decree was passed by the then president don Fructuoso Rivera. It set forth the creation of a village in the area. The task of founding it was commanded to the President’s brother, Colonel Bernabé Rivera.

Thus, a caravan of carts and families left Montevideo towards the banks of the Tacuaremboty River – which in the Guaraní tongue meant “river of the reed beds”.

After three months, the long caravan arrived at its destination and, after the surveyor carried out the measuring, delimitation and the division of land into the blocks of the future settlement, Colonel Bernabé Rivera founded the village under the name of San Fructuoso in January 27, 1832, the date on which the Christian calendar celebrates the day of such saint –regardless of the coincidence of the name with that of his brother and President of the country.

Some of the first settlers of San Fructuoso were José María Navajas, Ramón Cáceres, Cornelio Cantera and Lorenzo Fernández.

After the foundation, Bernabé Rivera requested the presence of a priest and that the village was judicially organized, with judges, police force, etc. to give way to the future town.

By 1837, San Fructuoso was a booming village. It had over 500 inhabitants, a judge of peace, a military chief, a parson, mayors and a Public Works Committee. Therefore, in June 16, Regulation 158 was passed to create three departments: Salto, Paysandú and Tacuarembó, the latter with capital at San Fructuoso.

Time passed and the community continued growing. In June 17, 1912, the category of the village of San Fructuoso was raised and, along with this event, its name was changed by Regulation 4,031, and it became “Tacuarembó”. It is said that the name was given by habit, as people would use such name to refer to the village lying in the surroundings of the Tacuaremboty River.