As a Toltec center around 1000AD, the area where Tuxpam is now located was known as Tochpan - a Nahuatl term for "place of rabbits". The city has flourished around the northern bank of the Tuxpan River - approximately 5 miles from its flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.
During Colonial times and through the Porfiriato, Tuxpam was a secondary port to Veracruz along the Gulf of Mexico. Supplies for mines in the Sierra surrounding Mexico's Central Plateau entered through Tuxpam.
In the early 20th Century, Tuxpam was one of Mexico's most important petroleum exploraration and production centers. Emerging companies such as El Aguila and La Huasteca Petroleum Company shared the "oil patch" with subsidiaries of US companies such as Penn and Sinclair.
Tuxpam was a stop on the first commercial air-route in Mexico between Mexico City and Tampico. Regional agricultural and livestock expos are celebrated on a regular basis in Tuxpam for the Huasteca.