13/09/2026
https://www.facebook.com/731886016/posts/10162666693241017/?mibextid=CDWPTG
CAMINO DE MABALACAT ca. 1915-1918
Before the modern concrete alignment of the Manila North Road (later called MacArthur Highway) was built starting in 1928, Pampanga's primary overland and trade route heavily relied on the Spanish colonial-era “caminos”--provincial road networks and trails. Major roads (camino real) linked important towns like San Fernando, Bacolor, Apalit, and Guagua. They were so named because they were established and authorized for use by the Spanish monarchy during our colonial times.
In comparison, Mabalacat roads were local rural dirt roads, called caminos vecinales , used as farm-to-market trails that linked private properties and small barrios to major public roads. This 1915-18 picture of the town’s unpaved main road shows it being used basically by local pedestrians and animal transport carts, as motor cars were rare in those days. Some makeshift commercial stalls are lining the road, indicative of active economic activities as Mabalacat was near Stotsenburg.
In Pampanga, travel by land closely aligned with the Manila Railroad line when it was opened in 1891 and passed through Mabalacat in 1892. The pueblo's main road was marked Calle Washington in some unofficial maps before it was merged into the Manila North Road when construction began in 1928. was made to run parallel to the rail tracks.
Today, with a major bus hub in Dau, additional motor traffic from the airport, and the impending opening of the North-South Commuter Railway in 2027, Mabalacat’s roads and highway junctions will continue to remain one of the busiest in the region.
