“Only through History that we learn of the failures of the past; apply the remedy to the present; and predict the necessities of the future.”

– ANONYMOUS

The establishment of Victoria as a community may be traced back in the mid 1800’s when the Spanish regime started to expand north from Manila. It almost happened at the same time when Porac and Florida Blanca (now part of Pampanga) and Tarlac (now Tarlac city) were formed. In the mid 1800’s people started to settle around the swamp or wetland in search for a place where food is abundant. By 1849 houses and pockets of communities were deriving subsistence from the wetland. The biggest sitio was Namitinan which became part of the earliest barrio formed in 1852 called San Vicente de Canarum. The name was derived from the wetland called Canarum Lake. Not until the signing of the decree by the Spanish Governor General Manuel Crespo on March 28, 1855, that the barrio San Vicente de Canarum was separated from Tarlac to form an independent pueblo named Victoria. The name was used to highlight the victorious battle of the faithful followers of Queen Isabela of Spain over their European enemies.

Traces of its Spanish history may still be seen in the well preserved municipal building, several old houses depicting Spanish architecture and various edifices that were built more than a hundred years ago.