Robert William Hale Hardy is the man credited with discovering and naming our little paradise by the sea that we call Puerto Penasco, or Rocky Point. Little is known of the adventurer, though it is believed that he discovered the area while searching for pearls and precious metals. Fortunately, he was was also a writer and his written words have preserved much of his story. It is thought that he was born around 1794 and confirmed that he died in 1871. To this day, his books are considered part of the important works of Western culture. Amazon and other electronic bookstores sell the digitized version of his work called "Travels in the Interior of Mexico", where he narrates his adventures in in Mexico from 1821 to 1828.

Sailing through the Sea of ​​Cortez (or Gulf of California), Hale Hardy recounts, that he observed a hill in the distance, which he called “Rocky Point”, Punta de Piedra, the same hill that is today known as Cerro de la Ballena, or Whale Hill. In his hand-drawn maritime maps of the area, he identifies hill as a prominent landmark seen from the sea.

After the visit of the adventurer-writer Hale Hardy and up until the 1920s, the area was largely forgotten and little or no history has been recorded. Then, after the revolution, Grupo Sonora, comprised of Adolfo de la Huerta, Álvaro Obregón, and Plutarco Elías Calles, were elected to the government and they began trying to form bonds between Sonora, Baja, and the USA, but this area did not get see much growth, even with the beneficial location on the coast, because of its location in the Altar Desert, one of the driest and hottest places in the world.

After numerous efforts in promoting growth in the area, and after several workers had died from thirst and nearly at the end of President Lázaro Cárdenas's administration on May 5, 1940, a section of railroad was completed and began the regular rail service between Mexicali and Puerto Peñasco with a train powered by a diesel electric locomotive and a car with a capacity of 45 passengers called La Paloma. Later, more descriptive names were commonly used in jest with the nicknames such as the Donkey, or the louse, the bullet, and the star train.

Construction slowly continued until finally the official inauguration of the Sonora-Baja California Railroad took place on April 7, 1948, when President Aleman on board the “Olivo Train” officially inaugurated thr toute, which went from Benjamin Hill in Puerto Penasco to Mexicali, the capital of the then Baja Territory. The railway is still in use today, however it is only used for freight and has no passenger cars.

During this long, slow growth period and the construction of the railways, some settlement did begin in the area. In 1927 a fishing village was founded, dedicated mainly to shrimp, a product which is still so important that the first official festival of the year is the Annual Rocky Point Festival of Shrimp and Trade, which takes place in the main square of the small town known as Plaza del Camarón (Shrimp Plaza).

Since the 1920s, the prized totoaba or white croaker had been fished, a type of fish that is only found in the Gulf of California, because Chinese gourmet cuisine considers its delicious swim bladder or crop to have medicinal and aphrodisiac properties. The remainder of the fish is not consumed. Some call it "sea cocaine" because a kilo of its bladders reaches prices between three thousand and twenty thousand dollars. Currently, it is in danger of extinction due to over exploitation, along with the vaquita porpoise, which is not eaten, but is accidentally caught while fishing for totoaba.

Given the relative newness of the city, there are no local festivals of great historical tradition, but there are many festivals and events that attract a large number of tourists. Tourism actually began in 1928 though, when, thanks to the American prohibition law, John Stone and Sofus Jhanssen arrived from Ajo, Arizona to open a hotel-casino where they sold alcohol to Americans. They themselves transported most of their clients in their "Scenic Airlines", a plane service from Phoenix and Tucson. To provide their clients with comfort, in addition to their hotel made of local rocks from Whale Hill, they drilled a 21m deep well.

Tourists enjoyed the opportunity to drink, play, and fish at the Marine Club, now Hotel Posada La Roca. Among the legends of the place, the story that maintains the highest degree of notoriety, is that the location was the Mexican hideout of Al Capone and his gang.

In 1933, when the American prohibition law ended, John Stone left the Marine Club, which had ceased to be a business because he had earned the enmity of the people by monopolizing the drinking water wells. It is said that before leaving, he burned the facilities to collect the insurance.