In 1817, then-mayor Narciso Mallol started the construction of the first bridge, a ten-arch masonry, connecting both sides of the Choluteca River.  Upon completion four years later, it linked Tegucigalpa with her neighbor city of Comayagüela.  In 1821, Tegucigalpa legally became a city.  In 1824, the first Congress of the Republic of Honduras declared Tegucigalpa and Comayagua, then the two most important cities in the country, to alternate as capital of the country.