Although it is in Mexico City's territory, it conserves a lot of rural characteristics, like winding cobblestone streets, and economic activities, equestrianism being one of the most important ones until recently.

[2] Like many places in Mexico, the name "Santa María Tepepan" originates from two disparate sources due to the Conquista.

[2] This name was given to the town at its founding when, according to its founding myth, an icon of the Virgen de los Remedios, made by the instruction of Pedro de Gante for the Convent of Mexico and then moved to Xochimilco, was finally deposited by him in the original shrine built in the place where the modern church stands today.

However, there is some archeological evidence showing scant and disperse habitation of the general area of Tepepan by various cultures before the Spanish colonization.

These are common household items for the cultures that inhabited the area at the time, like molcajetes and flattening tools made from tezontle, dated to sometime before 1000 B.C.E.

A copy of the map stone (Nahualapa) of the archeological site of Cuahilama, has also been found in Tepepan, dating from sometime in the Late Classical period, between 1196 and 1265 C.E., corresponding to the early Xochimilcans.

The most important finding of this period is a basalt statue of the god Xipe Totec currently housed at the National Museum of the American Indian.

[12] Various official government sources state that there was a shrine for the Aztec goddess Tonantzin in what is today the location of the church of Santa María de la Visitación.

However, while the description of this cosmological phenomenon is true and can be observed today,[16][17] there is very little material evidence to substantiate the claim that there was a shrine to the goddess Tonantzin at that exact location.

It is said that Pedro de Gante took some people from Xochimilco to live on top of the hill where Tepepan sits today, teaching them to work with stone and clay, building the shrine for the icon and by doing so, founding the town.

[18] There is also a papal brief issued by Pope Clement VIII and first read on the 4 of July 1596 in Puebla, that mentions Tepepan's shrine and its icon, and states that it was well-known and frequented by the locals.

Whether the town of Tepepan's founding occurred as early as of 1526 or as late as of 1599, by the year of 1609 it is mentioned in the Relación de los conventos fransiscanos del año de 1609 ("List of Franciscan convents of the year 1609"), explicitly stating the existence of the town and of a convent inhabited by two or three priests.

[3] By the time Agustín de Vetancurt wrote his Chronica, in 1697, there were three hundred people living in Tepepan, twelve of which were Spaniards and the rest Indians, and it had two haciendas (estates) in which the natives worked growing corn and wheat.

[18] To house the icon and to have a pilgrimage site for the cult of the Virgin of the Remedies, a new church of Santa María de la Visitación and a convent were built, starting sometime after 1653 and finishing by 1697, mainly under the supervision of friar Fransisco Millan,[2][3][6] and by 1691 it was important enough to be designated as a general vicarage.

[20] Because the friars wanted to prohibit the indigenous customs still practiced by Tepepan's population, the land owners primed the workers against them to gain influence over the people and the land,[26] making it harder for the church to be maintained, which caused the mandatory church tariffs paid by the inhabitants to be raised in response,[27] which in turn stopped the growth of Tepepan because the higher tariffs made it less attractive for people to move into it.

This migration was greater in volume for boroughs like Milpa Alta, Tlahuac, Tlalpan and Xochimico, and it caused the growth of the town of Tepepan after more than two centuries of stagnation.

Because of its ease of access for both car traffic and public transport, Tepepan grew faster than other towns in Xochimilco.

[29] Some pre-Hispanic archeological remains have been unearthed in Tepepan over the years,[12] and during the construction of the modern church some pottery pieces and Aztec idols were discovered.

[16] However, the only recorded instance of an excavation under the church occurred when the old wooden floor of the only nave was replaced with marble tiling, in 1947, during which twenty mummies where unearthed.

[13] Juan Esquivel y Fuentes: Mexican 20th century poet, priest and public speaker known for his poetry collection Tepepam: Poesías.