Teotihuacan takes its name from the ancient city and World Heritage Site that is located next to the municipal seat.

The building is tied to a character that represents water which is linked to an arm that is joined to the head of an indigenous person who is seated and speaking.

[1] Much of the history of the area has been tied to the ancient city, most recently involves controversy connected with commerce and development around the site.

[1] At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Teotihuacan area was venerated by the Aztecs, but this status died off with the coming of Christianity.

The area was renamed San Juan Teotihuacan and was the encomienda of Francisco de Verdugo Bazan by the end of the 16th century.

The various factions loyal to insurgents such as Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza and Álvaro Obregón came and went producing anarchy and scarcity of food.

In 1962, the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) began work at the site under Ignacio Bernal, which was completed in 1964.

INAH has classified much of the area into three sectors: A, B, and C. A includes the Calzada de los Muertos (Avenue of the Dead), pyramids and other structures within what is commonly thought of as the site.

[4][5] The largest of these controversies occurred in the mid 2000s when Bodega Aurrerá, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart of Mexico, gained permissions to build a supermarket in the Purificación neighborhood, which is within Sector C. Municipal authorities and INAH granted permits for the projects with some restrictions.

[2] However, activists, including some high-profile names such as José Luis Cuevas, Francisco Toledo, Elena Poniatowska and Homero Aridjis, opposed the store's presence on cultural and economic grounds.

[6] In December 2009, about 300 members of the Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME), the nation's electricians’ union, sabotaged a substation at km 110 of the Teotihuacan-Tulancingo highway, blacking out power to about 45,000 people in various municipalities.

It was chosen as representative of the history of the State of Mexico due to the archeological site and the historic buildings that are in the town proper.

[10] To the right of the main church is the open chapel which is fronted by six arches supported by Doric columns and contains a baptismal font.

[3] Monday is market day and the town hosts one of the most traditional “tianguis” in the Valley of Mexico, where hundreds of stalls are set up between the archeological site and the old monastery.

[3] Here and at the permanent municipal market, one can try local dishes such as barbacoa, mixiote, quail and many preparations with nopal, which grows abundantly.

The facade is divided into three bodies: the first stands out due to portal arch highly decorated with flowers in relief.

[3] The Jardin de las Cactáceas or Cactus Garden covers four hectares and exhibits a wide variety of plants found in the deserts and arid grasslands of Mexico.

Other events include paragliding and skydiving exhibitions, ultragliders, a farming and livestock show, and a gastronomy and crafts fair.

The 2010 event was dedicated to the Bicentennial of Mexico's Independence and featured a dirigible 44 meters long and the return of John Ninomiya, a man who is able to fly attached to a bunch of balloons.

Attendees bring or rents camping gear, including tents in a secure location as a recreation of Woodstock to stay for the 35-hour event.

The annual festival has been going on since 2006 and has featured acts such as the Babasónicos, Maldita Vecindad, Instituto Mexicano del Sonido and Panteón Rococó.

The Festival Musica para los Dioses is considered to be the most important rock and camping fest in all of Mexico.

The entrance is crowded with beer billboards, hotels, restaurants and dozens of stands selling souvenirs and up to hundreds of wandering vendors both inside and outside the archeological site.

Within zones A and B of the site are 500+ wandering vendors, 240 souvenir shops, 32 restaurants, 10 billboards, a radio antenna, a hotel and a spa/water park.

[2] In 2004 and 2005, the proposal to build a Bodega Aurrera supermarket, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart of Mexico, generated even more controversy, even though the site is located farther away in Sector C, where construction of this type is permitted[2][11] The supermarket was built in the Purificación neighborhood, 3 km from the Pyramid of the Moon and 2.4 km from the Pyramid of the Sun.

[17] Amidst rising allegations of corruption, the superstore was rapidly completed in time for Christmas 2004 before publicly announced plans to find an alternate site were realized.

[4] Since its opening, the supermarket has been a success, becoming an economic engine for the town since it attracts thousands of shoppers from the surrounding area each week.

As municipal seat, the town of San Juan Teotihuacán is the local governing authority for about 115 other named communities[21] with a combined territory of 82.65km2.

Wildlife includes skunks, rabbits, moles, buzzards, hummingbirds, quail, rattlesnakes, frogs as well as a large number of other birds, reptiles and insects.

Main crops include alfalfa, oats, barley, beans, corn, wheat and prickly pears.