On midnight of December 8, 1877, a group of bandits led by Tangkad who already plundered the nearby town of Majayjay is nearly approaching the western entrance of Pagsanjan.

[2] Under the supervision of a Franciscan priest, Fray Cipriano Bac and Don Manuel de Yriarte, the Pagsanjan Arch was built from 1878 to 1880 by the town people through forced labor or polo y servicio.

During the Japanese liberation of the town, municipal authorities vandalized the historic gate by having it painted in a gaudy pink color, including the coat-of-arms and the two Castillan lions.

The word Pagsanjan and the years of its construction, 1878–1880, written below it on the upper part of the gate's western facade were defaced and replaced with the greeting, "Welcome", and on the eastern side, "Thank U, Come Again".

Historian Gregorio F. Zaide, a native of the town, started a project to restore the historic gate through Pagsanjeños in Manila who generously gave ₱5,000.