Oil depots which service more than half of the fuel requirement of the country were established along the banks of the Pasig River in the district.

Pandacan was a farming community, producing small quantities of rice and sugar that were sold to the Spanish enclave in Intramuros.

Aside from a few vegetable plots, the old Pandacan produced bricks and tiles, colored cotton laces but in limited quantities.

In the 19th century, Pandacan was described as a "Little Venice" or "Little Italy" for its numerous canals or estuaries leading to the Pasig River.

A modern church stood on the ruins including a parish school which stands on what was the Catholic cemetery of the district.

[3] Pandacan was home to prominent Filipino artists of the 19th century, including Francisco Baltazar (also known as Balagtas) who authored Florante at Laura; musician Ladislao Bonus; Tagalog language theorist Lope K. Santos; and playwrights Miguel Masilungan and Pantaleon Lopez.

By the turn of the 19th century, the American colonial government decreed Pandacan as the center for industrial activity and had oil companies build their storage and distribution facilities in the district.

Atienza and several city councilors were concerned that the oil depot served as a security, environment, and safety hazard to the densely populated Pandacan.

Difficulty in finding a reasonable relocation site for the depots, without disturbing the national distribution process of fuel, resulted in a compromise in place of the eviction.

This included the Plaza Balagtas that sits atop the Estero de Beata in 2003 and the Ladislao Bonus Park in 2006.

The Pandacan Linear Park, developed under the support of the big three oil companies and the city government of Manila, allows for a leisure walk and recreational activities along the Pasig River.