El Centenario was founded in the 1960s as an agrarian/fishing ejido by approximately 25 founding families. Each of the original families was delegated land to use for farming and on which to build a dwelling, while the land remained under the ownership of the communal ejido. During the 1990s, due to reforms associated with the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexican ejidos were granted rights to deliver legal ownership of ejido land to the members, thus changing from communal ownership to private ownership.
