A city in disarray: Public health, city planning, and the politics of power in late colonial Mexico City Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Glasco, Sharon Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 03/10/2021 23:27:18 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280118 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 A CITY IN DISARRAY: PUBLIC HEALTH, CITY PLANNING, AND THE POLITICS OF POWER IN LATE COLONIAL MEXICO CITY by Sharon BaUey Glasco Copyright © Sharon Bailey Glasco 2002 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2002 UMi Number; 3060999 Copyright 2002 by Bailey Glasco, Sharon Louise All rights reserved. ® UMI UMI Microform 3060999 Copyright 2002 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Leaming Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Sharon Bailey Glasco entitled A City in Disarray: Public Health, City Planning, and the Politics of Power in Late Colonial Mexico City and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Kevin Gosner C - // Date Laura Tabili ' Date Bert Barickman Date Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Kevin Gosner 6-1 f-D Dissertation Director Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation lias been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations firom this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED^ J 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have many people to thank for the completion of this project, none more important than my dissertation director, Kevin Gosner. His experience has been invaluable, both in orienting me in the literature of the profession, as well as pushing me to expand my conceptual frameworks and theoretical understandings. Most notably, he has helped me understand the importance of balancing the career of a professional historian with the roles of spouse and parent, for which I can never fully express my appreciation. He showed unending patience when both &mily obligations and personal and professional distractions temporarily slowed my progress. Laura Tabili and Bert Barickman have also been inspirational noentors and teachers, challenging me to expand my ideas and arguments beyond the confines of Mexican history. Laura especially worked tirelessly helping me improve and clarify my writing. I would also like to thank Michael Meyer, who started me on the path of Mexican history back in 1991, and instilled in me the value of rigorous and thorough research. My peers in the history graduate program at the University of Arizona provided a intellectually challenging environment, while at the same time offering unconditional support and friendship. Special thanks go to Phyllis Smith, Michael Brescia, Vicki Weinberg Black, Osvaldo Barreneche, Marie Francois, Bianca Premo, and Laura Shelton. I would also like to thank my dissertation support group (otherwise known in my house as the Monday Night Party Group), Jodie Kreider, H. Michael Gelfand, Meghan Winchell. and Jerry Pierce, for getting me through the difiBcult phases of dissertation writing with an ample supply of beer, chocolate, and good conversation, as well as reading and oflfering comments on early drafts of chapters. Department chairs past and present in the department of History at the University of Arizona, Helen Nader and Richard Cosgrove, and the office stafif, especially Donna Watson, greatly facilitated my work, and their assistance and support is much appreciated. The staffs of the Archivo General de la N^ion, the Archivo Historico de la Ciudad de Mexico, and the Centro de Estudios de Historia de Mexico in Mexico City, and the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University in I^ovidence, Rhode Island were always helpful. I would like to thank especially the staff of the colonial research room at the AGN for going out of their way to access material for me as well as photocopying documents, and Jorge Rodriguez y Rodriguez of the Archivo del Tribunal Superior de Justicia del Distrito Federal for allowing me special access to materials therein. Don Alfonso Diaz In&nte Capdevielle made my stay in Mexico City an enjoyable one, and helped me negotiate the challenges of living m one of the world's largest cities. Finally, I woukl like to thank my husband, Jeff Glasco, and my son, James, for their unconditional love and support through this long, and sometimes difficult, endeavor. 5 DEDICATION To my husband, Jeff Glasco, for providing the emotional and financial support I needed to get through graduate school, as well as the time necessary to finish this project. To our son, James Robert Glasco, bom in the midst of this project, for helping me understand what is truly important in life, and for putting up with a preoccupied mother. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8 LIST OF TABLES 9 ABSTRACT 10 INTRODUCTION 12 CHAPTER 1. Splendor and Misery in the Viceregal Capital: The Physical and Material Environment of Mexico City 36 Demographics and the Role of Migration in Mexico City's Population 40 Physical Organization of the City 50 Material Contrasts Between the Rich and the Poor 66 Concluding Thoughts 82 CHAPTER 2. In Sickness and Health: Disease, Healing, and the Urban Population 84 The Root Causes of Epidemics and Endemic Disease 86 The Struggle Between Mexica and Spanish Medical Practices 98 Healthcare and Its Institutions 109 Public Responses to Disease and the Poor 114 Concluding Thoughts 125 CHAPTERS. Restoring Order Out of Chaos: Garbage Collection in Theory and Practice 128 Early Attempts at Sanitation Legislation 132 The Plans of Viceroy Revillagigedo 140 Revillagigedo 's Ideas Revisited 158 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Concluding Thoughts 167 CHAPTER 4. Mastery Over the Streets: Drainage, Street Paving, and Renovation of Urban Space 172 Flooding and the Movement of Water 174 Drainage Initiatives: Gutters and Piping 182 Street Paving and Sidewalks 194 Concluding Thoughts 209 CHAPTER 5. A Basic Necessity; Ihibiic Access to and Uses of Potable Water 212 Organization of the Public Water System and Supply 214 Clean Water for All ofJust Some?: Changes Under Revillagigedo 223 New Regulations for Public Baths 234 Concluding Thoughts 237 CONCLUSION 240 GLOSSARY 247 WORKS CITED 249 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS MAP I, Traza Boundaries and Predominantly Indian Neighborhoods 54 MAP 2, Neighborhood Divisions in 18th Century Mexico City 57 MAP 3, Major Streets and Landmarks in 18th Century Mexico City 59 MAP 4, Location of City Dumps, 1790s 154 MAP 5, Location of Drainage Projects During Tenure of Viceroy Revillagigedo, 1790-1794 185 MAP 6, Major Paving Projects in Mexico City, 1767-1796 200 MAP 7, Location of Canerias and Fuentes Publicas Built by Viceroy Revillagigedo 229 9 LIST OF TABLES TABLE I, Mexico City's Populatioa, 1772-1820 41 TABLE 2, Epidemic Outbreaks in Mexico City, 1711-1810 87 TABLE 3, Listing of Drainage Projects During Tenure of Viceroy Revillagigedo, 1790-1794 183 TABLE 4, Major Paving Projects in Mexico City, 1767-1796 198 TABLE 5, Organization of Goods Sold in the Votador Market 205 TABLE 6, List of Fuentes Publicas Built in Mexico City. 1740-1805 216 TABLE 7, List of Public Buildings with Private Access to Public Water Supply in Mexico City 217 TABLE 8, Source and Location of Fuentes Particulares in Mexico City, 1806 219 TABLE 9, List of CaHeria Construction in Mexico City, 1792-1795 227 TABLE 10, Construction of Fuentes Publicas in Mexico City, 1793-1796 228 10 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the spatial and public health dimensions of class relationships, social control, and state power in Mexico City during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.