The Mormon settlement was established in 1885 mostly to provide refuge for plural families escaping the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, especially after the 1878 Reynolds v. United States ruling against polygamy.

Prior to the arrival of settlers in late-19th century, the Apache people lived in the Casas Grandes valley along the river of the same name.

It probably was that favorable relationship with the President that caused Colonia Díaz to be the only Mormon colony to be completely burned to the ground during the Mexican Revolution.

Casas Grandes was probably a backwater until about 1200 CE when pochteca (traders) from the Aztec empire or other Mesoamerican states to the south turned it into a major trading center.

A diametrically opposed theory is that Casas Grandes was established by the elites of the Anasazi from the north who were fleeing their homeland during its decline.

A third theory speculates that Casas Grandes is a community that grew over time to dominate its region and adopted some religious and social customs from the civilizations of Mesoamerica.

[9] Brigham Young, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time, sent an expedition of missionaries led by Dan W. Jones to Mexico to investigate the possibility of preaching to the Mexican communities and to search for probable settlement options.

After Young's death, the settling projects in Mexico shifted from a proselyting foundation towards finding a refuge for families that had adopted plural marriage and felt threatened by the US Government's prosecution of polygamists.

[10] Even though plural marriage was illegal in Mexico, government officials welcomed the benefits of foreign investments and colonization by Americans and their resources, ignoring their cultural differences.

In January 1885, LDS President John Taylor visited the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua, selecting the Casas Grandes valley for the place where settlements were to be established.

[11] Several ambassadors were sent from Salt Lake City to negotiate purchasing of the lands and for official arrangements of foreign colonists to be accepted in Chihuahua.

In May 1885 approximately 400 prospective settlers, mostly plural marriage families from Arizona established temporary camps on the shores of Casas Grandes River.

[5] In February 1911, Francisco I. Madero entered the state of Chihuahua from his brief exile in the US border and led 130 men in an attack on Casas Grandes, south of the Mormon colonies, initiating the Mexican Revolution.

During the initiation of Madero's revolt, there were some efforts made by local officers to enlist the loyalty of the Mormon settlers to the federal ranks.

The unstable conditions in the Country didn't affect the Mormon colonies much, except for occasional stealing of pasture fences, horses and cattle used mostly for beef.

On July 12, 1912 a rebel leader by the last name of Arriola confiscated all the flour from Colonia Díaz gristmill and ordered their guns to be surrendered by the next day.

[12] Thomas D. Edwards, the U.S. Consul at Ciudad Juárez, approved the refusal of giving arms and ammunition to the revolutionary forces.

[6] A few weeks later the violence intensified in Chihuahua leading to more rebel groups staking the colonies in search for weapons and other goods.

On a train trip to El Paso, Texas on July 14,[6] Salazar told Romney that tensions escalated with the American colonists because of his belief that the US Government had made alliances with Mexican president Madero.

[13] In El Paso, Romney was instructed by LDS apostle and former Casas Grandes colonist Anthony W. Ivins to make decisions on behalf of the colonies should violence escalated too quickly.

The decision was made locally, since the colony leaders felt it was too dangerous to wait for confirmation from Salt Lake City.

The 1887 Sonora earthquake caused landslides and fires in the mountains affecting mostly the colonies settled on the Sierra Madre Occidental.

Growth of population was steady but limited by several factors, primarily transmissible diseases including malaria, typhoid fever, diphtheria and smallpox.

In 1891 many of the men in Colonia Díaz worked and donated resources for the building of the Mexican Northern Pacific railway, although without much compensation.

Most of the water supply for the farming lands came from a large spring on the neighboring mountains, conducted down the flats by way of a wide ditch several miles long.

All residents of Colonia Díaz were active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and religion was at the very center of the colony's culture.