The establishment of the municipality of Gerona can be traced back during the Spanish colonization in our country, when the Dominican Missionaries in the Philippines started to propagate the Catholic Faith in the whole archipelago in 1704.

The Dominican Missionaries were among the missionary pioneers that established and propagated the Catholic faith in Northern Luzon.  The Dominican missionaries have assigned the Vicar of Malanguey (now Bayambang, Pangasinan) in charge of the mission of the converting the inhabitants of “Paontalon” (which was how the place of Gerona was referred then), to the Catholic faith.  The mission proved to be a success that finally in 1722, Paontalon was recognized as small village and became part of the Municipality of Paniqui then under the Province of Pangasinan.

It was only during the early part of the nineteenth century that the inhabitants of Paontalon flourished due to the migration of people from the northern provinces of Luzon   in search for greater opportunities.  It is believed that the first groups of people who came and settled in Gerona are the Ilocanos and the Pangasineses.  This group of people settled on a side of a small rounded hill on the southwest slope of the town. They settled in the hill by the skirt of the “Pugo” in Ilocano.  It is believed that “Barug” was adopted as the name of the newfound settlement in favor of the later due the fact that the Pangasinenses outnumbered the Ilocanos.

However, in 1765 the name Barug was officially changed to Gerona in honor of General Claviera who was at that time the Governor General of the Philippines who hailed from Gerona, Spain.

It was not until July 14, 1845 that Gerona was officially established as an independent municipality.  The towns first Gobernadorcillo who was appointed then was Don Anacleto Melegrito.

When Tarlac was organized by the Spanish Central Government into a province, Gerona was among these towns, which   were incorporated into the new province.