The city of Colon, the major city in the Province of Colon, originated along with the gold seeking California-bound Forty-niners and the Atlantic terminal of the western hemisphere’s first transcontinental railroad.

When the railroad began, the site of the Colon city was little more than a swamp usually bypassed by incoming ships. The importance of Colon began with a storm, one that blocked the Chagres River entrance to Fort San Lorenzo. This was the previously favored route across the isthmus, said to have been used by such adventurers as the English pirate Henry Morgan.
Gold and silver, pillaged from the Incas of Peru, passed through this route on mule trains to be loaded onto Spanish galleons.
These same ships brought merchandise from Europe used for bartering at trade fairs in Portobelo, Chagres, and Nombre de Dios. The mule trains took merchandise back to colonies on the South American west coast. Residents of Portobello still proudly show visitors Fort Gloria and the Customs House, where the gold and silver was kept before shipment to Spain.

The city of Colon began with a few shacks at first. By 1851, ships started landing in Colon in substantial numbers, and the town grew rapidly. With the construction of the Panama Canal, Colon City became world famous as a cargo ship terminal and cruise port, and for exotic shopping on the famous Colon Front Street. The fame of the Colon Province continues as movie makers choose to use its historical and natural settings. This was one of the sites used in the production of the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

This city has experienced numerous economic booms and depressions largely dictated by world events. During World War II the city boomed as business developed around the needs of American troops stationed here. With the withdrawal of the troops at the end of the war, the city descended into a depression. As the Colon Free Zone developed in the late 1940’s, spin-off benefits trickled down to the city.

Colon is experiencing yet another economic boom.
Over the last three years over $20 million of the Government’s earnings from the free zone has been used for community projects. In addition, the companies of the free zone have collaborated with the administration in socioeconomic development in areas of education, health, and housing.

From 2005 to 2007, earnings from the Colon Free Zone have grown to a total of $ 77.8 million, as compared to just $54.5 million in the preceding 10 years, 1995-2004. All indications show further growth in both the free trade area and the city.
Rapid growth is evident in the four new ports, the re-establishment of the railway, the expansion of the commercial free zone area, the commercial plazas, and the massive expansion of the logistics area, the airport, the highway, the cruise ships’ homeport – Colon 2000, and the additional hotels being built in the Colon Province. Colon City is showing the results of yet another economic boom.