Toledo City, originally known as Hinulawan, was founded in 1861. A century later it became a city by virtue of Republic Act 2688 enacted on June 18, 1960 and inaugurated on January 6, 1961 through the effort of Congressman Manuel Zosa.
Marcelo A. Barba (a gym is named in his honor) became its first city mayor and made a report on the statistics on the social and economic progress of the city. Mayor Barba showed that when he became mayor in 1957 the income of the town rose from P80,967.48 to P127,732.03 in 1960.
When it became a city in 1961 its income was P347,217.83 and four years later this increased to P1,500,000. Its population in 1960 was 65,881. It had a registered voting population of 13,755 in the 1961 election. Interestingly, it had a very high voting percentage with 13,353 actual voters. In the 1963 election the voters number increased to 17,000 but had low rate of voting with only 12,000.
Mayor Barba also reported that the number of workers in the Atlas establishments to include Atlas Consolidated, Mining & Development Corp. and Atlas Terminal & Foundry Shop was 5,012, while the number of workers in the Atlas Fertilizer Corp. was 400.
The number of dwelling units (all types) in the whole area of Toledo was 11,453 with a total area of 25,519 hectares, and the number of land by lots was 11,684.
The industrial establishments in Toledo at that time included the Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development Corp. located in Lutopan, which was the biggest copper mine and copper deposit in the Far East.
There was also the Atlas Fertilizer Corp. located in Sangi, Toledo City, which produced all kinds of fertilizers; the Atlas Ammonium Sulfate Plant, located in Sangi; and the REDECO Oil Exploration located in Canlumapao, Toledo.
There was also the Atlas Foundry in Sangi, the Cebu Coal Mines located in Biga, and the Base Coal Mines located in Cantabaco. There were fisheries (known locally as basnigan) at the barrios of Matba-ang, Bato, Talavera, and Cabitoonan. Mayor Barba was assisted in the making of the report by Lorenzo G. Tabelin, secretary to the mayor, and Lt. Ricardo N. Trocio, aide to the mayor.