In the 1870s, Don Eligio established the «El Bronce» store in this place, offering imported products from Europe such as Champagne from «Les Pommery» in France, as well as French, Spanish, and Italian wines.

In 1873, with the purpose of increasing his income, he used part of the store as a barn and warehouse for various products, in addition to being involved in the export of henequen, dye wood, and chewing gum. Don Eligio also founded the first soap factory in Campeche, located at the end of the building.

Over the years, Don Eligio had several employees in different roles. In the 1882 records, names such as Enrique Puerto, Francisco Puga, and Rómulo Canto Heredia appear. «El Bronce» became the first establishment chosen by residents of southern Campeche for trading, with one of its customers being Hacienda Uayamón.

In 1885, the same building housed the public telephone service, facilitating communication with many haciendas in southern Campeche.

From the end of the 18th century, the opening of commerce allowed the cultivation of crops for the export and each region specialized in producing what was richest to the local soil. Thus, huge areas were turned over to the exploitation of hard woods, salt, sugar cane, cotton or tobacco. From 1830 there were attempts at large scale sisal production, but the lack of fiber-shredding machinery limited the supply to hand-produced fiber.

It was only in the last quarter of the 19th century that sisal could be shredded mechanically, and cultivation spread. The old estates or rural farms were transformed to the almost exclusive production of fiber. Great halls were built for the shredding machinery, steam engines with their typical chimneys, and presses for making bales, trains for transporting the leaves, networks of Decauville rails that covered the whole hacienda, dryers, and warehouses. Plants were built for the overseas administrators, supervisors and workers, as well as service buildings such as schools, infirmaries, chapels, stores and others, which now form occasionally quite large villages around the haciendas

The government that came into power after the 1910 Revolution carried out agrarian reforms and the redistribution of land, at the same time as the market for “Green Gold” was declining. Many haciendas were abandoned and their ruins disappeared into the tropical jungle. Today, some have been restored for a different purpose from the original ones, thus preserving the beauty of what was until not so long ago, the Pride of Yucatan.

During the 1912 uprising of the Governor of Campeche against the federal government, the store was looted by soldiers of the Federal Navy, as were many other stores in the city.

On September 9, 1914, Don Eligio died of health problems in a hospital in Mexico City. After his death, the store closed, and the building was inherited by his widow, Rosario Méndez Estrada. After her death, the building became the property of her son Gonzalo Guerrero Méndez.

After Gonzalo’s death, the «Casa Guerrero» was inherited by his brothers and sisters: Eligio, Gladis del Socorro, and Mirella Guerrero Estrada.

In 1944, the building was used as a warehouse for henequen fibers produced in the haciendas of San Antonio Yaxá, Imí, and Xtelchel. However, after the decline of henequen fiber, the «green gold,» the building was abandoned for a while.

In 1950, the «Casa Guerrero» was restored and adapted to become a guest house.

It wasn’t until the year 2000 that the restoration process of this famous house began to transform it into Hacienda Puerta Campeche, a hotel.

After nearly 4 years of restoration carried out by a specialized team of architects and restorers, the hotel opened its doors on June 9, 2004.

The main objective of the restoration was to return the hotel to its original architectural features of the time, preserving the oldest spaces and elements. The goal was to restore the image, personality, and splendor of the building, reusing as many original spaces as possible for new purposes without altering the main qualities of the buildings and their spaces. In all cases, efforts were made to rescue the concept of the «Grand House,» maintaining a balance between the integration of modern elements and spaces. The result is our beautiful hacienda with 15 rooms, all with fine and delicate details that provide the feeling of being at home.