In the beginning, 12 houses were built, scattered amongst the meadows.

Later on they are gathered together into groups for safety and the plan designed by the Marqués del Duero creates a town center with a central square. To the eastern side, a church, to the north the "Villa de San Luis" and the Administration Center and to the south, the Headquarters of the Civil Guard and the "Fonda" or Boarding House.

This town center is formed by 146 houses distributed in three parallel streets to the North/South, (later to be known as la Gasca, Marqués del Duero and Pizarro), with various side streets, the most important because it adjoins the square known as Revilla.

The first census known is of 36 inhabitants in the year 1860. In 1861 the number of inhabitants is already 529; this is the year of settlement.

One curious point is that amongst them all there were only 5 people over the age of 60, 4 men and 1 woman.

The Marqués del Duero had based his offer of work in the colony in a search for specialized agricultural workers. For this reason, farm laborers came from the fruit and vegetable growing region of Levante (Valencia and Alicante) and from the sugar cane regions of Andalusia of Granada and Almeria. (Adra).

The majority of the colonists are from Andalusia, and notably from Malaga, mostly from the towns of Marbella, Mijas and Istán.

The others, above all from Castilla, with a few from Extramadura and Catalonia, including one Frenchman, Eugéne Taillefer, agricultural engineer and future technological manager of the colony.