The word “Comala” comes from Nahuatl and means “place of comales (griddles).” Located northwest of the state capital and situated on a hillside framed by the El Suchitlán and El San Juan rivers, from Comala the Volcán del Fuego or Colima Volcano can be seen.

In 1527, the pre-Hispanic settlement was occupied by the Spanish, though it was not until 1820 that it was constituted as a town.

Comala was declared a Zone of Historical Monuments in 1988. This zone covers an area of 760 m2 formed by 51 blocks that include buildings constructed between the 16th and 19th centuries. The most significant are the Parish Church of San Miguel del Espíritu Santo, patron saint of Comala, the Municipal Presidency, the Main Square and the Municipal Cemetery. In the center of Comala stands the Parish Church of San Miguel, in a neoclassical style, whose first stone was laid in 1883. It is located adjacent to the Main Square or Plaza de Armas, where a metal bandstand of German origin occupies the center.

The German influence is due to the fact that in 1883 the businessman Arnoldo Vogel, of Teutonic origin, established a major coffee plantation here, and also promoted industrial and electrical energy production in the region.

The urban plan is laid out in a grid of perpendicular streets, adapted to the topography, which start from the main square, around which the most emblematic buildings are arranged.

The houses in Comala are made of adobe, painted white and with tile roofs, which is why it is known as the “white town of America.” The type of soil, the quality of the clay, the types of timber available, as well as the characteristics of the local stone gave rise to the appearance of the town.

The town is also famous for appearing in the first lines of the novel Pedro Paramo, by Juan Rulfo, which read: “I came to Comala because I had been told that my father, a man named Pedro Páramo, lived there.” However, present-day Comala has little in common with what Juan Rulfo imagined.