Colonia Asturias

The neighborhood is named after Parque Asturias, a football stadium constructed in the area by the Centro Asturiano de México, which existed on the corner of Calzada de Chabacano and José Antonio Torres street. The field was built in 1936 and had a seating capacity of 25,000 spectators, and was the first major football field in the history of the city. The first game held in the stadium was between a Brazilian team (Botafogo) and the Asturianos team. A publicity stunt for the event had the ball for the game dropped onto the field by an airplane. This field no longer exists and has been the site of a supermarket since the 1970s.^[2]

The origins of the neighborhood date from 1905, when Íñigo Noriega proposed the urbanization of what was then called Colonia La Paz.The plans for the construction of housing subdivisions were approved by the city in 1907, forming streets and blocks, but it did not officially establish the administrative division of colonia. The project then stalled. In 1913, the Agrícola y Colonizadora Mexicana Company proposed a similar project, but this, too, ran into problems. By 1920, there were houses and blocks but only semi-organized, with houses and other properties encroaching on other private properties and colonias. At this time, a large canal still ran through the area. To the side of this canal, the Cuauhtémoc borough decided to build a large road to the side it, which is Calzada de Chabacano. At this time, the La Piedad River on the south border was still open, but today it is encased entirely in a cement tube.^[2]