Francisco Morato, São Paulo State (Brazil) (original) (raw)

A beige flag, with the municipal arms in the centre.

The municipality of Francisco Morato (154,538 inhabitants in 2010; 492 ha) is located north-northwestern Greater São Paulo, 30 km of São Paulo.

Francisco Morato originated in the building of the Santos-Jundiaí railway; a small settlement called Vila Bethlém was the seat of the Companhia Fazenda Belém, a company associated with the São Paulo Railway Co. A part of Fazenda Belém was purchased by Irineu Evangelista de Souza, Baron of Mauá. After the building of the Botujuru tunnel, the São Paulo Railway Co. purchased from the Baron the area that would become the town of Francisco Morato. Most of the land was planted with eucalyptus, used to make railway ties. In 1900, the railway company duplicated the lines, built a small resupply station on the site of the today's railway station, and shortened the name of the place to Belém. In 1946, the land owned by the Companhia Fazenda Belém were transformed into the district of Belém, part of the municipality of Franco da Rocha. Since the law forbids the use of the same name by two municipalities, Belém, the older and bigger capital of Pará, was allowed to keep its name, while the old Vila Bethlém was renamed Francisco Morato in 1954. Francisco Morato (1868-1948) was a politician, lawyer and professor at the São Paulo Faculty of Law. The municipality of Francisco Morato was established on 21 May 1965.