Metro Tepalcates

Metro Tepalcates is a surface level station on the A Line in Mexico City’s east. Like most of the line, it sits on the media between lanes of the Calzada Ignacio Zaragoza. It’s named for the giant Colonia Tepalcates, to the south and west of the station. To the north and east of the station, the Colonia Juan Escutia makes up the the border with the Nezahualcóyotl municipality in Mexico State.

• Juan Bautista Pascasio Escutia y Martínez (1822-1847) for whom the neighborhood is named, was one of the Niños Héroes who died during the Battle of Chapultepec. He is honored, along with the other Boy Heroes, at monuments all over Mexico City and the country.

Tepalcates takes its name from the Nahuatl word tepalcatl, meaning earthenware. The name refers to the pottery long manufactured in Tlaxcala and, perhaps most famously, at the Talavera plant in Puebla. Both states, and to a lesser degree, the east of Mexico City were known for the production of pots and vessels, utensils, and sculpture even since long into the ancient period.  Volcanic ash dispersed over much of the region greatly improved its suitability for ceramic and pottery production.

The station logo represents an ancient clay pot produced along the border between present-day Tlaxcala and Puebla. Metro Tepalcates is a moderately busy station in a densely populated part of the City.