The old village of Freguesia de Meia Ponte, today the city of Pirenopolis, was created in 1736, a few years after the discovery of gold by prospectors from Sao Paulo in Vila Boa de Goias. It’s first official charter was drawn up on July 24th, 1771. the church of Nossa Senhora de Rosario already existed at the time and was described by Raimundo Cunha Mattus ,brigadier of the national and imperial army and governor of the province of Goyas). His “Chronographia Historica da Provincia de Goyas” describes it thus: “ big, beautiful and mistreated with two high belfries, five altars, and good ornamentation”.

According to another historian of the time, the priest Luiz Antonio da Silva e Souza, the name Meia Ponte originated with the explorer Bartholomeu Bueno da Silva whose father had first discovered the region and its peaceful Indians, the Goya, in 1682. After a long journey his expedition arrived at a small river named Meia Ponte where prospectors had built a bridge (ponte) which had been swept away by floods and this led to the naming of the town.