Morovis (, ) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

located in the central region of the island, north of

Orocovis Orocovis (from Taino language, Orocobix popularly thought to mean "''remembrance of the first mountain''") is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range, north of Villalba and Coamo; south of Morovis and Cor ...

, south of Manatí,

Vega Baja Vega Baja (, ) is a town and municipality located on the coast of north central Puerto Rico. It is north of Morovis, east of Manatí, and west of Vega Alta. Vega Baja is spread over 13 barrios. The population of the municipality was 54,414 at t ...

and Vega Alta; east of

Ciales Ciales (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, located on the Central Mountain Range, northwest of Orocovis; south of Florida and Manatí; east of Utuado and Jayuya; and west of Morovis. Ciales is spread over eight barrios and Ciales P ...

, and west of Corozal. Morovis is spread over 13 barrios and Morovis Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Morovis's local Taino Indian Cacique (Chief) was named

Orocobix Orocobix was the principal regional Taíno Cacique (chief) of the central mountain region of Puerto Rico called Jatibonicu in the 16th century. The Jatibonicu territorial region covered the present day municipalities of Aibonito, Orocovis, Ba ...

and his tribe was locally known as the Jatibonicu Taino. Don Juan Evangelista Rivera Morovis, Puerto Rico

In 1815, a group of residents, under the leadership of Don Juan José de la Torre, began the process to separate Morovis from Manatí. In 1817, the

government of Puerto Rico The government of Puerto Rico is a republican form of government with separation of powers, subject to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States.cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

epidemic in 1853; as a result, a common phrase, ''"la isla menos Morovis"'' ("''(all of) the island but Morovis''") was coined. The phrase is believed by Puerto Ricans from outside of the town to have a negative connotation against ''moroveños'', while, in reality, it is considered a positive motto. In 1875, Abino Casellas was mayor of Morovis and in 1879, Cruz Maria Castro was mayor. Puerto Rico was ceded by

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the aftermath of the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

under the terms of the

Treaty of Paris of 1898 The Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, commonly known as the Treaty of Paris of 1898 ( fil, Kasunduan sa Paris ng 1898; es, Tratado de París de 1898), was a treaty signed by Spain and the United Stat ...

and became a territory of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 1899, the

United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...

conducted a

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Morovis was 11,309. Morovis is a mountainous municipality with an area of approximately , located slightly north of the center of the island, which was hit particularly hard by

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 5, Category 5 Tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the wo ...

on September 20, 2017. With a 2016 estimate of 31,603 residents at the time, 1500 to 2000 homes lost their roof and 500 wooden homes were completed destroyed. Roads and bridges were impacted by landslides and flooding, and residents were left without access to electrical power, telecommunication services and basic necessities for many months. The community in

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

, a barrio of Morovis with about 1,000 people, was left isolated when the bridge into the barrio was washed away by the

Morovis River The Río Morovis is a river of Morovis, Puerto Rico. See also *List of rivers of Puerto Rico A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduat ...

. Then mayor of Morovis, Carmen Maldonado delivered food to residents, the municipal town hall became a food distribution center and she arranged for the purchase and delivery of a water truck to provide clean water daily to the residents who did not have access to clean water. Maldonado spoke to

New York governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a ...

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...

, requesting his help and Cuomo responded by contacting ''H.e.a.r.t. 9/11'', a non-profit organization. In early 2019, Maldonado received and thanked volunteers from ''H.e.a.r.t. 9/11'', mostly carpenters who came to Morovis to repair and rebuild homes damaged by the hurricane. In late 2019, ''H.e.a.r.t. 9/11'' was still rebuilding roofs in Morovis.

Geography

Barrios

Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Morovis is subdivided into barrios. The municipal buildings, central square and large Catholic church are located near the center of the municipality, in a small barrio referred to as . # Barahona # Cuchillas # Fránquez #

Monte Llano Montes Llanos (also spelled Monte Llano), is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués Rural, Portugués, Maragüez, Machuelo Arriba, and Cerrillos (Ponce), Cerrillos, Montes Llanos i ...

Morovis barrio-pueblo Morovis barrio-pueblo is a barrio and the administrative center ( seat) of Morovis, a municipality of Puerto Rico. Morovis barrio-pueblo has about 12 sectors and its population in 2010 was 895. As was customary in Spain, in Puerto Rico, the mu ...

Morovis Norte Morovis Norte is a barrio in the municipality of Morovis, Puerto Rico. Morovis Norte has about 15 sectors and its population in 2010 was 3,546. History Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War under the terms ...

Morovis Sud Morovis Sud also called Morovis Sur is a barrio in the municipality of Morovis, Puerto Rico. Morovis Sud has about 14 sectors and its population in 2010 was 4,208. History Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American ...

Pasto Pasto, officially San Juan de Pasto (; "Saint John of Pasto"), is the capital of the department of Nariño, in southern Colombia. Pasto was founded in 1537 and named after indigenous people of the area. In the 2018 census, the city had appr ...

# Perchas #

Río Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

# Torrecillas # Unibón #

Vaga VAGA is an artists collective dedicated to improving mental health and fighting cognitive decline through art therapy. The organisation brings together artists, clinicians and academic psychologists to foster research collaboration and the develop ...

Sectors

Barrios (which are like

minor civil divisions A minor civil division (MCD) is a term used by the United States Census Bureau for primary governmental and/or administrative divisions of a county or county-equivalent, typically a municipal government such as a city, town, or civil township. MCD ...

) in turn are further subdivided into smaller local populated place areas/units called sectores (''sectors'' in English). The types of ''sectores'' may vary, from normally ''sector'' to ''urbanización'' to ''reparto'' to ''barriada'' to ''residencial'', among others.

Special Communities

(Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing

social exclusion Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...

. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following entire barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Morovis: , and .

Morovis National (Veterans) Cemetery

The Morovis National Cemetery, a US veterans cemetery, was built in Morovis within a 247.5-acre parcel of land that can be accessed from Highway 137 at ''Km. 11.2''. It was built to replace the existing

Puerto Rico National Cemetery Puerto Rico National Cemetery is a United States national cemetery located in the city of Bayamón, in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It encompasses of land, and at the end of 2005, had 44,722 interments. Until 2021, it was the only United St ...

located in Bayamón which reached capacity. Construction was underway in 2019 with interments slated to begin in 2021.

Economy

An Energy Consortium was signed in late February, 2019 by the mayors of Villalba,

, Morovis,

and

Barranquitas Barranquitas (, ) is a small mountain town and municipality located in the Cordillera Central region of Puerto Rico, south of Corozal and Naranjito; north of Coamo and Aibonito; west of Comerío and Cidra; and east of Orocovis. Barranquita ...

municipalities. The consortium is the first of its kind for Puerto Rico. It is intended to have those municipalities work together to safeguard and create resilient, and efficient energy networks, with backups for their communities. This is part of the hurricane preparedness plan of these municipalities, which were hit particularly hard by

on September 20, 2017.

Tourism

Landmarks and places of interest

A well-known landmark in Morovis is The Red Bridge (). It's an iron bridge which was built in 1912 and is located on

PR-155 Puerto Rico Highway 155 (PR-155) is a rural road that goes from Coamo, Puerto Rico to Vega Baja through Orocovis and Morovis. It extends from PR-14 in downtown Coamo to PR-2 east of downtown Vega Baja. Major intersections Damian Arriba, Orocov ...

in barrio

. Cuevas Las Cabachuelas (Cabachuelas Caves) is a cave system in Puerto Rico which opened for tourism in 2019. It is located between the municipalities of Morovis and

Ciales, Puerto Rico Ciales (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, located on the Central Mountain Range, northwest of Orocovis; south of Florida and Manatí; east of Utuado and Jayuya; and west of Morovis. Ciales is spread over eight barrios and Ciales ...

in the Cabachuelas Natural Reserve, established in 2012 and is of cultural, archaeological, hydrological and geomorphological importance to Puerto Rico. Guided tours are offered by the Diógenes Colón Gómez Cultural Center in Morovis, by reservation only. La Patria Bakery, home of the , is a bakery established in 1862 in Morovis, that uses a brick oven for making bread. The bread has a curious name and look, resembling crossed legs. The Julia M. Cheverez Electronic Library is located in the main square in

also referred to as the ''

pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

''. Each barrio had a mural painted by a group of local artists and ValorArte and the mural images depict values such as honor, peace, responsibility, leadership and culture.

Culture

Festivals and events

Morovis celebrates its

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

festival in July. The in honor of

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or Virgin of Carmel, is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order, particularly within the Catholic Church. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Ca ...

is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment. Other festivals and events include: *Tribute to Don Felo - May * () - June *

Cuatro Cuatro is Spanish language, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4 (number), number four. Cuatro may also refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), name for two distinct Latin American instruments, one from Puerto Rico (see cuatro (Puerto Rico), ...

Festival - July *The Island Except Morovis - December *Innocents' Day - December

Demographics

Government

Carmen Maldonado González Carmen Irene Maldonado González is a Puerto Rican politician and mayor of Morovis, Puerto Rico. Maldonado is affiliated with the Popular Democratic Party (in es, Partido Popular Democrático (PPD)), has been serving as mayor since 2017 and wa ...

, has been the elected mayor of Morovis since 2017 and managed the devastation in Morovis caused by

on September 20, 2017. The bridge collapse in Morovis'

barrio was one of the challenges faced by Maldonado. Maldonado was reelected in 2020.

Transportation

There are 15 bridges in Morovis. Major routes that go through Morovis include PR-137,

PR-145 Puerto Rico Highway 145 (PR-145) is a rural road that travels from Ciales, Puerto Rico to Morovis. This road extends from its junction with PR-146 and PR-149 in downtown Ciales and ends at PR-155 between Morovis Norte, Torrecillas and Fránq ...

, PR-159, and PR-160.

Symbols

The has an official flag and coat of arms.

Flag

The flag of Morovis is divided vertically in two equal parts. The immediate one to the mast is yellow and has the eagle of the coat of arms, in this case with the head facing left, toward the flagpole. The other half is divided in seven vertical stripes of equal width, four red ones alternated with three yellow ones.

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of the Municipality of Morovis is formed by an eagle in the left partition, which symbolizes

Saint John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης, Iōánnēs; Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ; ar, يوحنا الإنجيلي, la, Ioannes, he, יוחנן cop, ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ or ⲓⲱ̅ⲁ) is the name traditionally given to ...

and sings in honor of the founder of the town, Don Juan Evangelista Rivera. The five cuatros observable in the right partition symbolize the fact that the town of Morovis is the main center of production of such typical Puerto Rican musical instruments. The shield in the center represents the Order of the Carmelite Nuns, and symbolizes as well the Our Lady of the Carmen, matron of the town. The left half is a field of yellow color (yellow for gold) in which resides a saber (black) eagle, beak and claws in red, its head enclosed with a halo.

Notable moroveños

Wesley Correa Wesley "Wes" Correa Crup (born April 16, 1962) is an American-Puerto Rican professional basketball player who played sixteen years in the Puerto Rican Baloncesto Superior Nacional league, all of them with the Titanes de Morovis franchise. Correa w ...

, basketball player, played for the local team 16 years *

Iluminado Davila Medina Iluminado Davila Medina (July 1, 1918 – June 7, 2021) was a Puerto Rican musician. He was a cuatrista. Biography Davila Medina was born in Morovis, Puerto Rico, the son of Jose Davila Ortega, also a cuatro musician, and Joaquina Medina Guz ...

, cuatro musician * Julio Negrón Rivera, master craftsman who makes the

Puerto Rican cuatro The Puerto Rican cuatro (Spanish: cuatro puertorriqueño) is the national instrument of Puerto Rico. It belongs to the lute family of string instruments, and is guitar-like in function, but with a shape closer to that of the violin. The word ...

, a musical instrument of Puerto Rico

Gallery

USPS in Morovis, Puerto Rico.jpg, USPS in Morovis La Patria Bakery in Morovis, Puerto Rico.jpg, La Patria, bakery established in 1862 PR-155 Puente Colorao, Morovis, Puerto Rico.jpg, Red Bridge (''Puente Colorao'') in Morovis Norte Morovis, Puerto Rico symbols.jpg, Symbols painted on wall in downtown Morovis PR-6622 and PR-617 signs in Morovis, Puerto Rico.jpg, Signs for routes in Morovis Parte de el Complejo Deportivo Gerardo “Gerry” Torres en Morovis, Puerto Rico.jpg, Part of the , a sports complex in Morovis

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...