In Nuevo Laredo there is an historical tradition that is central to public expressions of civic identity at the border. It is the story of how, in 1848, when Mexico lost the small town of Laredo to the United States because of the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, many of its inhabitants abandoned their homes and emigrated to the other side of the Rio Bravo, where they founded a settlement they called Nuevo Laredo in memory of their lost home.