The regional demographic and economic development that occurred in Goicoechea resulted from the planting of coffee. It became the dominant product as of 1850, replacing the large tabacco plantations that had constituted the main source of income for the earliest population. The "golden bean" was introduced to Guadalupe in 1840 by José Manuel Núñez, who planted it and established the first processing site at his former wheat mill. Another important factor in regional development was the Camino de Carrillo (Road to Carrillo), located near the confluence of the Sucio and Honduras rivers. The need for this road was due to local coffee farmers' demands to deliver their beans to the Limón harbor on the Atlantic for exportation, thereby shortening the cargo journey to their main European markets. At first the thought was to build a train track from San José, the country's capital, to Limón, moving through Paso de La Palma. Later in 1881, when the road section had reached Carrillo, the national government proposed to discontinue construction to open a road instead from San José to Carrillo. The following year that new road was inaugurated, but was in use for very little time, given its high cost of maintenance and traffic on it becoming sparse, once a train track construction from San José to the Caribbean coast was completed in 1890.
Goicoechea's first elementary school was built in 1883. It is located north of the Goicoechea Park. Afterward Escuela Carlos Gagini was built, and then in 1939 a new grammar school was inaugurated called Escuela Pilar Jiménez Solís, during president León Cortés Castro's administration. The secondary school Liceo Napoleón Quesada began operations in 1955, during president José Figueres Ferrer's first administration.
Guadalupe has been Goicoechea's municipality since 1891. But given its population growth, as of on August 10, 1920, during president Julio Acosta García's administration, Law No. 69 conferred to it the title of city.
Goicoechea was officially drawn away from the canton of San José and established by decree via Law No. 36 on December 7, l848. Law No. 56 decreed on August 6, 1891 that Goicoechea be itself established as a canton in the province of San José with Guadalupe as its municipality. Yet this law did not define any other districts for the canton, though it did recognize 6 townships toward that end.
The first Canton Board Hearing of Goicoechea occurred on September 13, 1891 with representatives Francisco Jiménez Núñez serving as president, Tomás Gutiérrez and Ezequiel Vargas serving as vice presidents. Jesús Zeledón served as secretary and Basileo Araya as political chief.
The first aqueduct and sewage lines were inaugurated in 1910 under president Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno's administration.
Goicoechea consists of 7 districts:
Geologically, Goicoechea canton is grounded on volcanic matter dating to the Quartenary Period. Rocks from the Pleistocene epoch predominate in the region. Dating to this period, there are rolling structures located between Villa Rancho Redondo and the Purral district. Volcanic structures, recently and presently established, formed during the Holocene epoch. They are associated to pyroclastics and other volcanic matter such as lava, lahars and pyroclasts. The earliest ones are located west of the canton, originating from Villa Rancho Redondo. The later ones originate from Purral and move east.
The Goicoechea canton is part of a geomorphic unit of volcanic origin, which is divided into two sub-units called the Irazú Volcano and the Volcanic Filling of the Central Valley.
The Irazú Volcano sub-unit is located to the east of the canton from Villa Mata de Plátano. It consists of slopes of all kinds. The contours of the hills are rounded due to the thickness of recent ash deposits that cover almost the whole surface mass. The sub-unit is composed of volcanic rocks displaying gaps, lavas, tuffs, agglomerates, ignimbrites, ash and also many streams of mud and lahars. The rocks' degree of weathering is highly variable, with its origin being due to the accumulation of different type of volcanic rocks.
The volcanic filling of the Central Valley, located in the western sector of the canton, corresponds to a flat undulating surface. It is possible that changes on the surface within the area are due to the presence of lava only a few meters below the surface. This constitutes a front. The sub-unit takes surface form from volcanic rocks, mainly lavas, tuffs and ignimbrites covered by ash in varying thickness. The sequence flow of lavas rests on sedimentary rock. The lavas are of the andesitic type. Geomorphologically, this unit is not a valley. Nevertheless, for political, socio-economic reasons and various other kinds of references, it is preferable to continue calling this region the Central Valley. The correct technical name is Tectonic Pit, due to the presence of a fault along the foot of the Central Volcanic Sierra, which is evidenced by the existence of thermo-mineral sources. Also there is an abrupt interruption in the foothills that align with the fault as they descend from the Central Volcanic Sierra mountain range towards the valley. Additionally, there is the presence of an unexplained "volcanism" (Pacacua Formation) that corresponds with or nears the position of the fault.
Elevations above sea level for the urban centers in the districts of Goicoechea canton follow:
The fluvial system of the canton of Goicoechea follows Pacific slope, which belongs to the basin of the Grande de Tárcoles River.
The rivers that drain the region begin with the Purral River, with the Navarro River as its tributary as well as the Mozotal brook. The Purral river is a tributary of the Torres River along with the Cangrejos, Patalillo and Patal brooks, together with the Tiribí, Ipís, Durazno and Barreal streams. These watercourses, except for the Torres River, have their source in the canton, on the western slope of the Cabeza de Vaca Hill, and course east-to-west. The Torres, Tiribí, Durazno, Ipís flows, and the ravines Barreal and Patal serve as cantonal borders. The first borders with San José and Montes de Oca. The second borders with the Cartago province. The rivers Durazno and Ipís along with Vázquez de Coronado and the ravines, respectively border with the cantons of Moravia and Montes de Oca.
The canton's maximum width is 12.43 miles (20 km), spreading northeast to southwest from the source of the Durazno River to the bridge over the Torres River, along National Highway No.5, which runs from San José to San Juan de Tibás.
Goicoechea is home to important institutions of various kinds, both governmental and private, as well as a series of industries of great recognition, established mainly in the ​​Calle Blancos industrial zone. Worthy to be noted are:
The canton of Goicoechea has been characterized for being an area of ​​important industrial and commercial development in the province of San José, Costa Rica's capital. An example of its importance may best be seen in that companies such as Motorola and Durman Esquivel remained located in the district of Calle Blancos along with Coca Cola-FEMSA bottling corporation for decades. The construction of the industrial complex Parque Empresarial del Este in the same district has added multinational accounts, namely Amazon, Bank of America, Teletech, among others to this list of growing companies that have increased the rate of employment in the area, while the infrastructure, especially roads, has remained unchanged, leading to excessive congestion.
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