The current town was founded in 1526 by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Portocarrero, and shortly after it was assigned by Bishop Francisco Marroquín to the Order of Preachers, along with Jocotenango, Jilotepeque, Sumpango, Candelaria, Amatitlán, Petapa, Mixco, and Pinula.

[7] After independence from Spain in 1821, the town was elevated to "Villa" status in 1825 but apparently lost some luster, as one can infer from archeologist Alfred Percival Maudslay wife's description from a trip there in 1895.

Anne Cary Maudslay, wrote: "We were not tempted to loiter for long, and rode on again over the dull plain to the uninteresting town of Chimaltenango, where we proposed to spend the night.

The hotel was dirty and the bedrooms so unpleasant that we would have none of them, and sent Gorgonio to hunt for an empty room in which we could put up our own beds.

This he found in a "meson", or caravanserai, attached to the hotel, where there was a good-sized room and a rough kitchen opening on a patio in which we could turn the beasts loose for the night.