Mexico Report Home > Sam Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende - Hills & History Founded in 1542 by Fray Juan de San Miguel, a Franciscan monk, San Miguel de Allende (san miguel de aye-ende), retains a rich colonial charm with its cobblestone streets and beautiful Spanish colonial mansions, many of which have been restored to their former splendor. San Miguel appended the last name of it's famous revolutionary resident Ignacio Allende. He and Padre Hidalgo, let the fledgling Mexican revolutionary forces through their initial victories against Spain, until the unhappy Spanyards removed their heads and hung them on display in Guanajuato. To put things into historical perspective, in the 1770s, when Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was little more than a frontier outpost with twenty log cabins, San Miguel de Allende already had a population of over 30,000, fattened by the rich gold and silver trade. Not even Boston with 16,000 or New York City and its 25,000 were as big. In the United States only Philadelphia of the time rivaled San Miguel de Allende in size.