With the establishment of the Insular Government of the Americans, all friar lands in the Philippines were purchased for distribution to the local people and paid on installment basis. In Santa Rosa, the Dominican friar lands were bought for 14.4 million pesos on July 4, 1901. The period of reconstruction was initiated by the civil government which allocated 2 million pesos for the construction of roads, bridges and school buildings in Santa Rosa. At the same time, German Arambulo, a rich philanthropist with a great vision for the town, donated his family- owned land estates as sites for the present-day public market, playground, and elementary school building. The famous Santa Rosa Arch, a small replica of the Arch of Triumph in Paris, France was also built in 1931. In a sense, the modern-day physical planning and development of the municipality started during this early period.

The town was no exception to agrarian unrest that dominated the Philippine political scene of the early 1930s. The issues and problems related to abuses by landowners dubbed as “caciquism” culminated in a bloody revolt by farmers of Santa Rosa and Cabuyao on May 3, 1935. About 30 people, most of them occupying the Cabuyao Parish Church patio, died from the Springfield rifles of the government constabulary. Many rebels were arrested, including their woman leader, Henerala Salud Algabre, and were put to prison charged with rebellion. It did not take long when President Manuel L. Quezon of the Commonwealth Government granted them political amnesty through the intercession of Governor Juan Cailles of Laguna.

Life went on as usual in Santa Rosa until the Second World War which broke out in 1941. What was conspicuous before the war was the presence of Japanese nationals such as “Meda” and “Mekawa” who were seen selling “kending happon”. They were later seen dressed in army uniform when the invading Japanese forces came in. Tragic incidents marked the Japanese occupation of the town. Suspected local guerillas identified by the treacherous local makapili spies in hooded bayong were arrested, tortured and just disappeared.

The hacienda was converted into a garrison by the Japanese Army. Some local residents were caught in the crossfire between the “tora-tora” planes and American planes which were engaged in dogfights. The belfry of the parish church was heavily damaged during these clashes.

The town plaza later became the site for executing makapilis by the local guerillas. Fearful for their lives, the Japanese forces, together with their local cohorts, fled towards the eastern side of the lake known as the “darangan” and their fate was never known again. When the American forces returned on February 5, 1945 together with their Filipino allies, some Japanese collaborators were imprisoned at the “Kapitolyo” in Santa Cruz, Laguna.

During the post-war era until the 1970s, the town people were largely dependent on basic agriculture and family-owned enterprises for livelihood. Aside from farming, residents were also engaged in fishing, livestock raising, and small backyard gardening, However, progress and development came to the town of Santa Rosa at a very fast pace several decades after the liberation period. From a sleepy agricultural community regarded as a “bedroom area” of Metro Manila, it was transformed into a boomtown of close to 300,000 people and the center of business, commerce, and industry not only in Laguna but also the whole of CALABARZON sub-regionthe fastest growth center of the country. CALABARZON was formed by virtue of Executive Order No. 103 which was issued in 2002 for the purpose of breaking up the large Region IV into two regional planning areas and assigning development roles for each area. CALABARZON was assigned the role of a growth corridor area to which Santa Rosa belongs. The corridor is described as a rapidly urbanizing and industrializing area. Due to its proximity to Metro Manila, a high level of urbanization has taken place over the years in the region, with Laguna and Cavite particularly becoming sites of manufacturing and high-technology industries.

The influence of industrialization slowly took shape in Santa Rosa in the 1980s with the entry of local and foreign investors who were instrumental in the fast-paced economic and social transformation of the town and the province. The foreign multinational companies were particularly attracted by cheap labor and government incentives in the PEZA-registered economic zones and industrial estates. The quiet town of Laguna Province actually started its progress initially from the establishment of Filsyn, CIGI and a couple of small multi-national companies there when the government Board Of Investments (BOI) provided incentives to companies located at not less than 40 km. away from Metro Manila.

With the timely opening of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) in the 1980s, many private business enterprises, big and small, started to come in, particularly the Coca-Cola Bottling Company Plantthe biggest in Southeast Asia – and the Ayala- owned Laguna Technopark Inc. (LTI) in joint venture with Japanese companies that opened its more than 300 hectares world-class industrial estate to locator companies known in the global business, namely: National Panasonic, Fujitsu Ten, Emerson, Honda Cars Philippines, Isuzu and Lamcor, among others. Later on, economic zones followed suit, particularly the Greenfield Business Park that hosts the multi-million dollar manufacturing plant of the famous Ford Motor Company, the Lakeside Eco-zone Industrial Technology Park, and Toyota Santa Rosa Special Economic Zone.

The town so to speak is world-class with the presence of multinational companies in its premier industrial estates. It is regarded as the Automotive Capital of the Philippines because of the active presence and operation of Toyota Motor Philippines, Nissan Motor Philippines, Honda Cars Philippines, Star Motors, Columbian Motors, Ford Motors and Mitsubishi Motors, among others. The Enchanted Kingdom – the only world-class theme park in the country – is located in Santa Rosa City as well as the Santa Elena Golf Club, a premier golf course. There are many first-class housing projects offering accommodation for the middle and upper-middle-class population. Recently, the opening of another Ayala Corporation signature project, the NUVALI, makes Santa Rosa City another pride to the country. Nuvali Evo-living is the largest self- sustainable eco-friendly community which also houses two multinational ICT-BPO Companies – Convergys and IBM. The above economic developments have allowed Santa Rosa City to be recognized by the Department of Science and Technology as a “Smart City” and to be popularly dubbed the “Investment Capital of Southern Luzon.” Also, because of the above developments, Santa Rosa rose to become a first-class municipality in 1993 from its fourth-class status in 1986. Later, through Republic Act No. 9264 signed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Santa Rosa became a component city of the province on July 10, 2004.

The church of Santa Rosa Laguna was built sometime in 1796, and its first curo paracco or parish priest was Padre Francisco Favier. The church, which was built during the Hispanic era, is made of adobe, bricks and stone. And just like the typical church built during the colonial era, The Santa Rosa de Lima church sits right in front of a large plaza. One of the highlights of this church is ist hexagonal-shaped belfry with a globe on top of it. Other important details are its doors with its intricate carvings.

Construction of the Santa Rosa de Lima Parish Church begun in 1796. The citizenry helped in the procurement of materials. They supplied albumin (egg white) which when mixed with lime and mortar served as cement that cohered the adobe stones firmly. After 16 years, the church was completed. The Zavalla Manuscripts disclosed that the church was blessed on August 4, 1812 and the first holy mass with homily was celebrated on August 30, 1812.

Gusaling Museo (primarily a “Bahay-Pamahalaan”) is a two-story building which was built in 1828 during the Spanish period as government building under the reign of Hon. Don Bernardo Zavalla, refitted in 1954, became Museum on January 17, 2006 (soft opening), the old government building of Santa Rosa was redesignated as the “City of Sa nta Rosa Museum” a nd inaugurated on August 23, 2006.

It is in the city proper where the tallest pylon in the Philippines (behind the statue of Dr. Jose Rizal), with a length of 18.3 meters off the ground, is located.

The famous landmark of the city, The original Bantayang Bato that serves as a lookout was built in 1792 near the Santa Rosa River and refitted in 1925 was dismantled to give way to a motorized near the Market which is patterned after the Arc De Triomphe in Champs Elysees in Paris, France.