In the 1880s, the French Inter-Oceanic Canal Company arrived to find the port of Colón (then Aspinwall) just a few streets wide and long while the rest of Manzanillo Island was still a swamp.

This new landfill area, upon which the French built their facilities, was called Christophe Colombe, a name which was translated in Spanish as Cristóbal Colón.

Cristobalites eventually had their own commissary, post office, police, fire and railroad stations, churches, yacht club, YMCA, VFW, American Legion, several fraternal lodges and a masonic temple.

After the Panama Canal's inauguration the port of Cristóbal's great piers were built and, shortly after, shipping companies moved into the area which came to be known as Steamship Row.

At around the same time the northwestern tip of Manzanillo Island was converted into an artillery post named Fort De Lesseps, so new residential housing areas for US employees were needed.

This required new planning for Cristóbal which was designed primarily for port activity, as headquarters for shipping agencies, freight handlers, banks, and the Canal Zone's Atlantic side civil administration center.

This change saw a drastic population shift of Cristobalites to new areas in Margarita and Coco Solo, and the redefinition of territorial boundaries which reduced the extension of the Canal Zone on Manzanillo Island.

These changes came about as a result of the construction of the town of Margarita, the 1955 bilateral treaty, and the US Navy's transfer of its Coco Solo Station to the Canal Zone government.

New Cristóbal and Fort DeLesseps, now part of the Republic of Panama, became the most prestigious areas for Colón's citizens and for executives of the Bahía Las Minas Refinery.

[1] Cristóbal is now part of the city of Colón, though it is also the name of the district which encompasses the Atlantic Side portions of the former Panama Canal Zone.