Ponce (, , , ) is both a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and a

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 ...

on the southern coast of

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 ...

. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1692Some publications/reporters have erroneously stated Ponce's date of founding as 12 December 1692 (see, for example, Jose Fernandez-Colon, The Associated Press, at "Noticias Online" on 24 January 2009, a
''Noticias Puerto Rico.''
Accessed 23 March 2019.) Another incorrect date sometimes found is 12 September 1692 (See, for example, Jorge L. Perez (El Nuevo Dia) and Jorge Figueroa (Ponce Municipal Historian), a
''Historic Buildings and Structures in Ponce, Puerto Rico.''
at the text accompanying Drawing #20, titled "Tumba de los Bomberos". Puerto Rico Historic Buildings Drawings Society. 2019. Accessed 4 February 2019. See als
''Mapa de Municipios y Barrios: Ponce, Memoria Numero 27.''
Gobierno del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. Junta de Planificación. Santurce, Puerto Rico. 1953. p. 6.). Miguel A Sanchez-Celada also points to the 12 September 1692 date based on the record that on that date the Spanish Crown officially recognized, via Royal Decree, the hamlet as a town (See Miguel A Sanchez-Celada. ''Evolución urbana de Ponce (Puerto_Rico) según la cartografía Histórica.'' Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain. 2018. (DOI:http:..dx.doi.org/10.5944/etfvi.11.2018.20421) In, Espacio, Tiempo y Forma", Revista de la Facultad de Geografia e Historia, UNED. Serie VI. Geografía 11. 2018, pp. 219-245. ISSN 1130-2968. E-ISSN 2340-146x.) In this article the date reported is that given by the authorities closest to the founding date, and with their respective references.Salvador Brau. ''La fundación de Ponce: estudio retrospectivo que comprende desde los asomos de vecindad europea en las riberas del Portugués, al terminar el siglo XVI, hasta el incendio casi total del pueblo de Ponce en febrero de 1820.'' Ponce, Puerto Rico: Taller Tipográfico Comercial "La Democracia". 1909. p. 5. Reprinted at San Juan, Puerto Rico, at a later date. p. 4. (See Francisco Lluch Mora's ''Orígenes y Fundación de Ponce'', Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2006, pp. 29, 33.)José Leandro Montalvo-Guenard. In, Luis Fortuño Janeiro. ''Album Histórico de Ponce: 1692-1963 (Section: "Algo Sobre Ponce y su Fundación".)'' Ponce, Puerto Rico: Imprenta Fortuño. 1963. p. 11.Francisco Lluch Mora. ''Orígenes y Fundación de Ponce.'' San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editorial Plaza Mayor. Segunda Edición. 2006. p. 33. and is named for

Juan Ponce de León y Loayza Juan Ponce de León y Loayza (born San Juan, Puerto Rico) was the son of Juan Ponce de León II (born ''Juan Troche-Ponce de León''), the interim Spanish governor of Puerto Rico in 1579. His mother was Isabel de Loayza born in Villa Talavera ...

, the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador

Juan Ponce de León Juan Ponce de León (, , , ; 1474 – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' known for leading the first official European expedition to Florida and for serving as the first governor of Puerto Rico. He was born in Santervá ...

.Some historians state that the municipality was named after Juan Ponce de León himself. (Crediting Juan Ponce de León himself see, for example, Eduardo Neuman Gandia's ''Verdadera y Auténtica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce.'' (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. 1913.) Page 34, and Jose Luis Diaz de Villegas, https://books.google.com/books?id=ovzJlU1f-iAC&pg=PA46, and Sandra Torres Guzmán's '' Una hacienda atada a la historia citadina'', https://www.periodicolaperla.com/una-hacienda-atada-a-la-historia-citadina/ .) Others state it was named after Juan Ponce de Leon y Loayza, the great-grandson of Juan Ponce de Leon. (Crediting the great-grandson see, for example, Encyclopedia Puerto Rico, ; J.A. Corretjer, http://www.yerbabruja.com/pueblos/ponce.html; Frommer, https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy_BSu4a2EYC&pg=PA185; and Harry S. Pariser, https://books.google.com/books?id=KawuqbFxLS0C&pg=PT239.) A few authorities state it may have been named after the Ponce de León family in general, covering father, son, grandson, and great-grandson (See, for example, Francisco Lluch Mora's ''"Orígenes y Fundación de Ponce, y otras noticias relativas a su desarrollo urbano, demográfico y cultural (siglos XVI-XIX)"'', Segunda Edición, Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2006, page 27.). Still others state it was founded by Juan Ponce de León y Loayza but named by him in the memory of his great-grandfather, the Spanish Conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce is often referred to as ''La Perla del Sur'' (The Pearl of the South), ''La Ciudad Señorial'' (The Manorial City), and ''La Ciudad de las Quenepas'' (

Genip ''Melicoccus bijugatus'' is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native or naturalized across the New World tropics including South and Central America, and parts of the Caribbean. Its stone-bearing fruits are edible. It is ...

City). The city serves as the governmental seat of the autonomous municipality as well as the regional hub for various

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.Judiciary of Puerto Rico The Judiciary of Puerto Rico is defined under the Constitution of Puerto Rico and consists of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, Court of Appeals, and the Court of First Instance consisting of the Superior Courts and the Municipal Courts. Courts ...

. It is also the regional center for various other Government of Puerto Rico and

US Federal Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fed ...

agencies. Ponce is a principal city of both the

Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area The Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area is a United States Census Bureau defined Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in south central Puerto Rico. A 1 July 2009 Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 262,414, a 0.95% decrease from the ...

and the Ponce-Yauco-Coamo Combined Statistical Area. The Municipality of Ponce, officially the ''Autonomous Municipality of Ponce'', is located in the southern coastal plain region of the island, south of

Adjuntas Adjuntas (, ) is a small mountainside town and municipality in Puerto Rico located central midwestern portion of the island on the Cordillera Central, north of Yauco, Guayanilla, and Peñuelas; southeast of Utuado; east of Lares and Yauco; an ...

Utuado Utuado () is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the central mountainous region of the island known as the '' Cordillera Central''. It is located north of Adjuntas and Ponce; south of Hatillo and Arecibo; east of Lares; and west ...

, and

Jayuya Jayuya (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the mountainous center region of the island, north of Ponce; east of Utuado; and west of Ciales. Jayuya is spread over 10 barrios and Jayuya Pueblo (the downtown and administr ...

; east of Peñuelas; west of

Juana Díaz Juana is a Spanish female first name. It is the feminine form of Juan (English John), and thus corresponds to the English names Jane, Janet, Jean, Joan, and Joanna. Juanita is a common variant. The name Juana may refer to: People *Juana I (14 ...

; and bordered on the south by the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. The municipality has 31

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

s, including 19 outside the city's urban area and 12 in the urban area of the city. The historic '' Ponce Pueblo'' district, located in the downtown area of the city, is shared by several of the downtown barrios, and is located approximately three miles () inland from the shores of the Caribbean. The municipality of Ponce is the second largest in Puerto Rico by land area, and it was the first in Puerto Rico to obtain its

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...

, becoming the ''Autonomous Municipality of Ponce'' in 1992.

History

Early settlers

The region of what is now Ponce belonged to the

Taíno The Taíno were a historic Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the ...

Guaynia Guaynia was the territory that stretched along the southern coast of Puerto Rico in the pre-Columbian era. The Taino ''cacique'' (tribal chief) Agüeybaná ruled the area around Guayanilla when Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus ...

region, which stretched along the southern coast of Puerto Rico. Agüeybaná, a

cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

who led the region, was among those who greeted Spanish conquistador

when he came to the island in 1508. Archaeological findings have identified four sites within the municipality of Ponce with archaeological significance:

Canas Canas or Cañas may refer to: Places * Canas (Lycia), a town of ancient Lycia, now in Turkey * Amatlán de Cañas, a municipality in Nayarit, Mexico * Cañas Canton, in Guanacaste province, Costa Rica * Cañas, Costa Rica, capital of the Cañas (ca ...

Tibes Tibes (''Barrio Tibes'') is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Magueyes, Portugués, Montes Llanos, Maragüez, Machuelo Arriba, Sabanetas, and Cerrillos, barrio Tibes is one of the municipality's ...

Caracoles Caracoles was a small, but important town dedicated to the mining of the silver resources located in Carmen Gloria Bravo Quezada, ''La flor del desierto. Caracoles y su impacto sobre la economía chilena'', Ediciones de la Dirección de Bibliotec ...

, and El Bronce. During the first years of the

colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

families started settling around the

Jacaguas River Río Jacaguas is a river shared between the municipalities of Ponce and Juana Díaz in Puerto Rico. It flows from north to south, draining into the Caribbean Sea east of the city of Ponce. One of the 14 rivers in the municipality of Ponce, ...

, in the south of the island. For security reasons, these families moved to the banks of the

Rio Portugués Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

, then called Baramaya. Starting around 1646 the whole area from the Rio Portugués to the Bay of

Guayanilla Guayanilla (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located on the southern coast of the island, bordering the Caribbean Sea, south of Adjuntas, east of Yauco; and west of Peñuelas and about west of Ponce. Guayanilla is spread over 16 ...

was called Ponce. In 1670, a small

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

was raised in the middle of the small settlement and dedicated in honor of

Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe ( es, Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions, which are believed t ...

. Among its earliest settlers were

, and the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Don Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán, from nearby San Germán. On 17 September 1692, the King of Spain

Carlos II Charles II of Spain (''Spanish: Carlos II,'' 6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700), known as the Bewitched (''Spanish: El Hechizado''), was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. Best remembered for his physical disabilities and the War of ...

issued a ''Cédula Real'' (Royal Permit) converting the chapel into a parish, and in so doing officially recognizing the small settlement as a hamlet. It is believed that Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, Juan Ponce de León's great-grandson, was instrumental in obtaining the royal permit to formalize the founding of the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

. Captains Enrique Salazar and Miguel del Toro were also instrumental. The city is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. In the early 18th century Don Antonio Abad Rodriguez Berrios built a small chapel under the name of San Antonio Abad. The area would later receive the name of ''

San Antón San Antón is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, and Portugués Urbano, San Antón is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are now a ...

'', a historically important part of modern Ponce. In 1712 the village was chartered as ''El Poblado de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Ponce'' (The Village of Our Lady of Guadalupe of Ponce).

19th-century immigrants

In the early 19th century, Ponce continued to be one of dozens of hamlets that dotted the Island. Its inhabitants survived by

subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...

cattle raising A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

, and

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") refers to any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It is used for goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes o ...

with foreigners. Mayor José Benítez categorized the jurisdiction into ''cotos'', ''hatos'', ''criaderos'', ''monterías'', and ''terrenos realengos''. ''Cotos'' were lands awarded to residents as reward for their services to the king. They were developed into

estancias An estancia is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias in the southern South American grasslands, the ''pampas'', have historically been estates used to raise livestock, such as cattle or sheep. In Pu ...

or lands apt to be cultivated for agricultural use. ''Hatos'' were lands not granted to anyone in particular, but available for communal use where cattle could roam at will. ''Monterías'' were hilly areas located next to ''hatos'' were cattle could be reigned in or gathered together with the help of trained dogs. ''Criaderos'' were lands were cows could be herded for milk production. Goats, sheep, pigs, asses, and mares were also herded in ''criaderos''. ''Terrenos realengos'' were lands that belonged to the state (to the king). However, in the 1820s, three events dramatically changed the size of the town. The first of these events was the arrival of a significant number of white

Francophones French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

, fleeing the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...

of 1791–1804.Eduardo Neumann Gandia. ''Verdadera y Autentica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce.'' 1913. Reprinted in 1987. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. p. 38. The effect of this mass migration was not felt significantly until the 1820s. These French Creole

entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

were attracted to the area because of its large flatlands, and they came with enough capital,

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, and commercial connections to stimulate Ponce's

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

production and sales. Secondly,

landlords A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the te ...

and

merchants A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry ...

migrated from various Latin American countries. They had migrated for better conditions, as they were leaving economic decline following the revolutions and disruption of societies as nations gained independence from Spain in the 1810s-1820s. Third, the Spanish

Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 The Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 (Spanish: ''Real Cédula de Gracias'') is a legal order approved by the Spanish Crown in the early half of the 19th century to encourage Spaniards and, later, Europeans of non-Spanish origin, to settle in and pop ...

attracted numerous European immigrants to Puerto Rico. It encouraged any citizen of a country politically friendly to Spain to settle in Puerto Rico as long as they converted to the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

faith and agreed to work in the

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

business. With such mass migrations, not only the size of the town was changed, but the character of its population was changed as well. Europeans, including many

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, immigrated from a variety of nations. On 29 July 1848, and as a result of this explosive growth, the Ponce hamlet was declared a ''villa'' (village) by

Queen Isabella II Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successio ...

, and in 1877 the village obtained its city charter. Some of these immigrants made considerable fortunes in

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

and sugarcane harvesting,

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Phili ...

production,

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

ing and

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

, the importing of industrial machinery, iron foundries and other enterprises. At the time of the American invasion of the Island in 1898, Ponce was a thriving city, boasting the Island's main financial center, the Island's first communications link to another country, the best capitalized financial institutions, and even its own currency. It had consular offices for England, Germany, the Netherlands, and other nations. Following trends set in Europe and elsewhere, in 1877, Don Miguel Rosich conceived an exposition for Ponce. This was approved in 1880, and the Ponce Fair was held in the city in 1882. It showed several industrial and agricultural advancements.

"It is important to establish a relationship between the European exhibitions that I have mentioned and the Ponce Fair, as the Fair was meant as a showcase of the advancements of the day: Agriculture, Trade, Industry, and the Arts. Just as with the
1878 World's Fair The third Paris World's fair, World's Fair, called an Exposition Universelle in French, was held from 1 May to 10 November 1878. It celebrated the recovery of French Third Republic, France after the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War. Constructi ...
in Paris, the electric grid of the city of Ponce was inaugurated on the first day of the Ponce Fair. In this occasion the
Plaza Las Delicias Plaza Las Delicias is the main plaza in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The square is notable for its fountains and for the various monuments it contains. The historic Parque de Bombas and Ponce Cathedral buildings are located within the plaza, ...
and various other buildings, including the Mercantile Union Building, the Ponce Casino, and some of Ponce's homes were illuminated with the
incandescent light bulb An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxida ...
for the first time".

Ponce in the 20th century

U.S. invasion

US troopships and convoy at Playa de Ponce, 1898

At the time of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Puerto Rico in 1898 during 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 ...

, Ponce was the largest city in the island with a population of 22,000. Ponce had the best road in Puerto Rico, running from Ponce to

, which had been built by the Spaniards for military purposes. The taking of Ponce by American troops "was a critical turning point in the Puerto Rican campaign. For the first time the Americans held a major port to funnel large numbers of men and quantities of war material into the island." Ponce also had underwater

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

cable connections with

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, putting the U.S. forces on the island in direct communication with

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

for the first time since the beginning of the campaign. Just prior to the United States occupation of the island, Ponce was a flourishing and dynamic city with a significant number of public facilities, a large number of industries and commercial firms, and a great number of exquisite residences that reflected the high standing of its bourgeoisie. On 27 July, American troops, aboard the ''

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

'', ''

Dixie Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas shift over the years), or the extent of the area it cover ...

'', , and ''

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

'', disembarked at Playa de Ponce. General Nelson Miles arrived the next day with reinforcements from Guánica and took possession of the city. There were some minor skirmishes in the city, but no major battle was fought. Three men were killed and 13 wounded on the Spanish side, while the Americans suffered four wounded. The American flag was raised in the town center that same day and most of the Spanish troops retreated into the surrounding mountains. The U.S. Army then established its headquarters in Ponce.

Period of stagnation

After the U.S. invasion, the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

s chose to centralize the administration of the island in

, the capital, neglecting the south and thus starting a period of socio-

economic stagnation Economic stagnation is a prolonged period of slow economic growth (traditionally measured in terms of the GDP growth), usually accompanied by high unemployment. Under some definitions, "slow" means significantly slower than potential growth as es ...

for Ponce. This was worsened by several factors: *

Hurricane San Ciriaco The 1899 San Ciríaco hurricane, also known as the 1899 Puerto Rico Hurricane or The Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1899, was the longest-lived Atlantic hurricane on record, and the second-longest-lived tropical cyclone globally on record (in terms ...

in 1899 had left the region in misery * The opening of sugar mills in Salinas and Guánica drew commercial and agricultural activity away from Ponce * The decadence in

plantations in the 1920s * The loss of the Spanish and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n markets "The Spanish American War had paralyzed the trade of the Island of Puerto Rico and when Spain surrendered the sovereignty she closed her pain'sports to Puerto Rican products, while the American occupation of Cuba destroyed the only other important market. As a result, the trade in coffee and tobacco was ruined, and nothing was provided by the Americans to take their place." At least one author has also blamed the stagnation on "the strife between the U.S. and the local Nationalist Party." The 20th century financial stagnation prompted residents to initiate measures to attract economic activity back into the city. Also, a solid manufacturing industry surged that still remains. Examples of this are the

Ponce Cement Ponce Cement, Inc. was a cement and limestone manufacturer in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The company was located at the intersection of PR-123 and PR-500, in Barrio Magueyes. It was founded in 1941 by Antonio Ferre Bacallao, a Puerto Rican industrial ...

Puerto Rico Iron Works Puerto Rico Iron Works (founded as ''Porto Rico Iron Works'') was a heavy industry iron foundry located in barrio La Playa in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The company was founded in 1918. The foundry "was Puerto Rico's most prolific steel bridge fabr ...

, Vassallo Industries, and

Destilería Serrallés Destilería Serrallés is a rum producer located in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and best known for its Don Q rum brand. The company is Puerto Rico's oldest family-owned company and has revenues of over 100 million dollars. In 2011, it was responsible f ...

. El Dia was also founded in Ponce in 1911.

Ponce massacre

On 21 March 1937, a peaceful march was organized by the

Puerto Rican Nationalist Party The Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico ( es, Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico, PNPR) is a Puerto Rican political party founded on September 17, 1922, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its primary goal is to work for Puerto Rico's independence. The P ...

to celebrate the 64th anniversary of the abolition of slavery and protest the incarceration of their leader, Dr.

Pedro Albizu Campos Pedro Albizu Campos (September 12, 1891Luis Fortuño Janeiro. ''Album Histórico de Ponce (1692–1963).'' p. 290. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Imprenta Fortuño. 1963. – April 21, 1965) was a Puerto Rican attorney and politician, and the leading fi ...

, in a federal prison on charges of

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

.''Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Civil Rights in Puerto Rico.'' By The Commission of Inquiry on Civil Rights in Puerto Rico. 70p, np, 22 May 1937. Law Library Microform Consortium. Kaneohe, HI.
Retrieved 22 November 2009. The march turned into a bloody event when the Insular Police, a force somewhat resembling the

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

of the typical U.S. state and which answered to U.S.-appointed governor

Blanton Winship Blanton C. Winship (November 23, 1869 – October 9, 1947) was an American military lawyer and veteran of both the Spanish–American War and World War I. During his career, he served both as Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army, Judge Advoc ...

, opened fire on unarmed and defenseless members of the

Cadets of the Republic Cadets of the Republic, known in Spanish as Cadetes de la República, was the paramilitary wing of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in the twentieth century. The organization was also referred to as the Liberation Army of Puerto Rico ''(Ejérc ...

and bystanders. When the shooting stopped, nineteen civilians had been killed or mortally wounded. Over two hundred others were badly wounded. Many were shot in their backs while running away, including a seven-year-old girl named Georgina Maldonado who was "killed through the back while running to a nearby church." The US commissioned an independent investigation headed by Arthur Garfield Hays, general counsel of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

, together with prominent citizens of Puerto Rico. The members concluded in their report that the event was a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

, with the police acting as a mob. They harshly criticized Winship's actions as governor and said he had numerous abuses of civil rights. The event has since been known as the

Ponce massacre The Ponce massacre was an event that took place on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1937, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, when a peaceful civilian march turned into a police shooting in which 19 civilians and two policemen were killed, and more than 200 civilians ...

.Report of the ACLU as echoed by U.S. Congressman Vito Marcantonio
. Retrieved 23 November 2009. It was the largest massacre in Puerto Rican history. As a result of this report and other charges against Winship, he was dismissed from his position in 1937 and replaced as governor. The history of this event can be viewed at the

Ponce Massacre Museum The ''Museo de la Masacre de Ponce'' (the Ponce Massacre Museum) is a human rights museum and historic building in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It depicts the history and events surrounding the Ponce massacre, which occurred in broad daylight on Palm Sun ...

on Marina Street. An open-air park in the city, the Pedro Albizu Campos Park, is dedicated to the memory of the president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. As a result of this event, Ponce has been identified as "the birthplace of Puerto Rican national identity." Ponce history in general is expressed at the Ponce History Museum, on the block bordered by Isabel, Mayor, Cristina, and Salud streets in the historic downtown area.

Hub for political and economic activity

Ponce has continued to be a hub of political activity on the island, and is the founding site of several major political parties. It has also been the birthplace of several important political figures of the island, including

Luis A. Ferré Don Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo (February 17, 1904 October 20, 2003) was a Puerto Rican engineer, industrialist, politician, philanthropist, and a patron of the arts. He was the governor of Puerto Rico from 1969 to 1973. He was the founder of the ...

and

Rafael Hernández Colón Rafael Hernández Colón (October 24, 1936 – May 2, 2019) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1973 to 1977 and 1985 to 1993 for a total of three terms. An experienced politician, Hernández held the ...

, both former

governors of Puerto Rico : This list of governors of Puerto Rico includes all persons who have held that post, either under Spanish or American rule. The governor of Puerto Rico is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The position was first esta ...

, as well as the childhood town of governor

Roberto Sanchez Vilella The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

. Statistics taken from the 2010 census show that 82.0% of Ponceños are

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and 9.0% are

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, with

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

s, people of

mixed race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

and others making up the rest. At 82.0% vs. 76.2% for the island as a whole, Ponce has the highest concentration of white population of any municipality in Puerto Rico. However, the US Census Bureau changed the definitions of its racial makeup categories for the 2020 Census resulting in 19.0% of Ponceños being classified as

and 13.3% as Black/Afro Puerto Rican', 0.3% as

, and people of

making up the rest.

1970s economic decline

The 1970s brought significant commercial, industrial and banking changes to Ponce that dramatically altered its financial stability and outlook of the city, the municipality and, to an extent, the entire southern Puerto Rico region. After

Luis A. Ferre Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

concluded his term as governor of Puerto Rico on 1 January 1973, he closed the

foundry on Avenida Hostos, and transferred the offices of Ponce's island-wide El Dia newspaper that he owned, as well as the headquarters of his Empresas Ferré, to San Juan. In 1976, CORCO—southern Puerto Rico's main source of economic vitality—shut down its industrial operations in

leaving thousands of area residents without work; its impact on indirect sources of employment was even greater. Also, the sugar cane industry, also suffered a major downturn. Sugar cane had until 1976 been grown and refined at Ponce's

Central Mercedita Hacienda Mercedita was a sugarcane plantation in Ponce, Puerto Rico, founded in 1861, by Juan Serrallés Colón. Today Hacienda Mercedita no longer grows sugarcane and its lands are instead used for growing mangoes, grasses, landscape plants a ...

, but in that year agricultural production of sugar cane was halted in the lands of the municipality of Ponce and adjacent towns. Also, the headquarters of

Banco de Ponce Banco de Ponce was the Puerto Rican bank with the largest number of branches in the United States and second largest bank in deposits and number of branches in Puerto Rico during the twentieth century. Founded in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the e ...

and

Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño (Ponce Credit and Savings Bank) was the first bank in Ponce, Puerto Rico, On 7 October 1985, Ponce was the scene of a major tragedy, when at least 129 people lost their lives to a

mudslide A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a significa ...

in a sector of Barrio

Portugués Urbano Portugués Urbano is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, and San Antón, Portugués Urbano is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios tha ...

called Mameyes. International help was needed to rescue people and recover corpses. The United States and many other countries, including Mexico, France, and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, sent economic, human, and machinery relief. The commonwealth government, subsequently, relocated hundreds of people to a new community built on stable ground. In 2005, the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction of the United States reported that the Mameyes landslide held the record for having inflicted "the greatest loss of life by a single landslide" up to that year.

Recent history

The

of Ponce became the first in Puerto Rico to obtain its

on 27 October 1992, under a new law (''The Autonomous Municipalities Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico'') enacted by the Puerto Rican legislature. Ponce's mayor for 15 years,

Rafael Cordero Santiago Rafael Cordero Santiago (24 October 1942 – 17 January 2004), better known as "Churumba", was the Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 1989 to 2004. Many considered him as a synonym of Ponce, being baptized as "El León Mayor ...

("Churumba"), credited for leading the municipal government to that accomplishment, died in office on the morning of 17 January 2004, after suffering three consecutive strokes. Vice-mayor

Delis Castillo Rivera de Santiago Delis Castillo Rivera de Santiago (born ca. 1945) was interim mayor of Ponce from 2004 to 2005. She filled the post left vacant by the sudden death of long-time Mayor Rafael Cordero Santiago, completing Mayor Cordero Santiago's term. Prior to ...

finished his term. Cordero was succeeded by

Francisco Zayas Seijo Francisco R. Zayas Seijo, also known as Ico (born 4 October 1951), is a former member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives and mayor of the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. During his 4-year mayoral term, Zayas Seijo established the Mariana ...

. In the 2008 general elections María "Mayita" Meléndez was elected mayor of the city of Ponce and served three terms. The current (2021) mayor is

Luis Irizarry Pabón Luis Manuel Irizarry Pabón (b. Ponce, Puerto Rico; 12 November 1958) is the current mayor of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Biography Luis Manuel Irizarry Pabón was born on 12 November 1958 in Ponce, Puerto Rico. His parents were F� ...

who became the first mayoral candidate in the modern history of Ponce to win with more that 60% of votes cast. The city is also the governmental seat of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, and the regional hub for various

commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

entities. For example, it serves as the southern hub for the Judiciary of Puerto Rico. It is also the regional center for various other commonwealth and

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

government agencies. Ponce has improved its economy in the last years. In recent years, Ponce has solidified its position as the second most important city of Puerto Rico based on its economic progress and increasing population. Today, the city of Ponce is the second largest in Puerto Rico outside of the

metropolitan area. Its nicknames include: ''La Perla del Sur'' (The Pearl of the South) and ''La Ciudad Señorial'' (The Noble or Lordly City). The city is also known as ''La Ciudad de las Quenepas'' (

City), from the abundant amount of this fruit that grows within its borders. The complete history of Ponce can be appreciated at the

Museo de la Historia de Ponce The Museo de la Historia de Ponce (Museum of the History of Ponce) is a museum located in the historic Casa Salazar-Candal in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The museum depicts the city's ecology, economy, architecture, government, and elements o ...

, which opened in the city in 1992. It depicts the history of the city from its early settlement days until the end of the 20th century. On September 20, 2017

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 ...

struck the island of Puerto Rico. In Ponce, $1,000 million in damages were the initial estimates. An estimated 3,500 homes were completely or partially destroyed. The hurricane triggered numerous landslides in Ponce.

Geography

The Municipality of Ponce sits on the Southern Coastal Plain region of the Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Caribbean Sea. It is bordered by the municipalities of Adjuntas, Utuado, Jayuya, Peñuelas, and Juana Díaz. Ponce is a large municipality, with only

Arecibo Arecibo (; ) is a city and municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta and Florida. It is about west of San Juan, the ...

larger in land area in Puerto Rico. In terms of physical features, the municipality occupies a roughly rectangular area in south-central portion of the Island of approximately wide (east-to-west) by long (north-to-south). It has a surface area of . The main physiographic features of the municipality of Ponce are: (1) the mountainous interior containing the headwaters of the main river systems, (2) an upper plain, (3) a range of predominantly east-west trending limestone hills, (4) a coastal plain, and (5) a coastal flat. The northern two-thirds of the municipality consists of the mountainous interior, with the southern third divided between hills, coastal plains, and the coastal flat. Ponce's municipal territory reaches the

central mountain range The Central Mountain Range is the principal mountain range on the island of Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south. Due to this separation, connecting between the west and east is not very convenient. The tallest peak of th ...

to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south. Geographically speaking, the southern area of the territory is part of the Ponce-Patillas alluvial plain subsector and the southern coastal plain, which were created by the consolidation of the valleys of the southern side of the central mountain range and the Cayey mountain range. The central area of the municipality is part of the semi-arid southern hills. These two regions are classified as being the driest on the island. The northern part of the municipality is considered to be within the rainy western mountains. Barrio

Anón Anón (''Barrio Anón'') is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Marueño, Coto Laurel, Guaraguao, Quebrada Limon, Real, and San Patricio, and the coastal barrios of Canas and Capitanejo, Anón is one ...

is home to

Cerro Maravilla Cerro Maravilla is Puerto Rico's fourth highest peak at . It is located on the northern edge Barrio Anón in Ponce, close to the border with the municipality Jayuya, and is part of the Cordillera Central (Central Mountain Range). It is known as ...

, a peak that at 4,085 feet (1,245 m) is Puerto Rico's fourth highest peak. Nineteen barrios comprise the rural areas of the municipality, and the topology of their lands varies from flatlands to hills to steep mountain slopes. The hilly barrios of the municipality (moving clockwise around the outskirts of the city) are these seven:

Quebrada Limón Quebrada Limón is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Anón, Coto Laurel, Guaraguao, Marueño, Real, and San Patricio, and the coastal barrios of Canas and Capitanejo, Quebrada Limón is one of the mu ...

Marueño Marueño (''Barrio Marueño'') is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Anón, Coto Laurel, Guaraguao, Quebrada Limón, Real, and San Patricio, and the coastal barrios of Canas and Capitanejo, Marueño ...

Magueyes Magueyes is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba, Maragüez, Montes Llanos, Portugués, Sabanetas, and Tibes, Magueyes is one of the municipality's eight interior barrios. ...

Portugués Rural Portugues and variants may refer to: *Portugués, Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, a barrio * Portugués Rural or just Portugués, one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico *Portugués Urbano, one of the 31 barrios in the municipality ...

Machuelo Arriba Machuelo Arriba is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with the barrios of Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Montes Llanos, Maragüez, and Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba is one of the municipality's seven rural in ...

, and Cerrillos. The barrios of

Coto Laurel Coto Laurel (''Barrio Coto Laurel'') is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Anón, Marueño, Guaraguao, Quebrada Limon, Real, and San Patricio, and the coastal barrios of Canas and Capitanejo, Coto Lau ...

, Capitanejo, Sabanetas,

Vayas Vayas is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Playa, Bucana, Canas and Capitanejo, Vayas is also one of Ponce's five coastal barrios. Together with Capitanejo, Vayas is also one of two rural coastal bar ...

, and

Bucaná Bucaná is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Canas, Playa, Vayas, and Capitanejo, Bucaná is one of the municipality's five coastal barrios. The name of this barrio is of native Indian origin. It ...

also surround the outskirts of the city but these are mostly flat. The remaining six other barrios are further away from the city and their topology is rugged mountain terrain. These are (clockwise):

Guaraguao Guaraguao (''Barrio Guaraguao'') is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Anón, Coto Laurel, Marueño, Quebrada Limón, Real, and San Patricio, and the coastal barrios of Canas and Capitanejo, Guaragu ...

, San Patricio,

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 ...

Maragüez Maragüez (''Barrio Maragüez'') is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Montes Llanos, Machuelo Arriba, Sabanetas, and Cerrillos, Maragüez is one of the municipality's eig ...

, and

Real Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

. The ruggedness of these barrios is because through these areas of the municipality runs the

Central Mountain Range The Central Mountain Range is the principal mountain range on the island of Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south. Due to this separation, connecting between the west and east is not very convenient. The tallest peak of th ...

of the Island. The remaining barrios are part of the urban zone of the city. There are six barrios in the core urban zone of the municipality named ''

Primero Primero (in English also called Primus, ', or in Italian '' or Spanish ''Primera'')'', is a 16th-century gambling card game of which the earliest reference dates back to 1526. Primero is closely related to the game of primo visto (a.k.a. prima-vi ...

'', '' Segundo'', ''

Tercero Tercero (''Barrio Tercero'') is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Primero, Segundo, Cuarto, Quinto, and Sexto, Tercero is one of the municipality's six core urban barrios. It was organized in 1 ...

'', '' Cuarto'', '' Quinto'', and ''

Sexto Sexto (''Barrio Sexto'') is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Primero, Segundo, Tercero, Cuarto, and Quinto, Sexto is one of the municipality's six core urban barrios. Barrio Sexto used to be called B ...

.'' They are delimetered by streets, rivers, or major highways. For example, Barrio Tercero is bounded in the north by Isabel Street, in the east by the Rio Portugués, in the south by Comercio Street, and the west by

Plaza Las Delicias Plaza Las Delicias is the main plaza in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The square is notable for its fountains and for the various monuments it contains. The historic Parque de Bombas and Ponce Cathedral buildings are located within the plaza, ...

. Barrio Tercero includes much of what is called the historic district. There is a seismic detector that the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, has placed in Barrio Cerrillos.

Land features

Elevations include

Cerro de Punta Cerro de Punta or just Cerro Punta is the highest peak in Puerto Rico, rising to above sea level.As of February, 1981, the US Geological Survey reports the height as 1,328 meters. (See''Geographic Names Information System: Feature Query Result ...

at 4,390 feet (1,338 m), the highest in Puerto Rico, located in Barrio

in the territory of the municipality of Ponce. Mount Jayuya, at 4,314 feet (1,315 m) is located on the boundary between Barrio Anón and Barrio Saliente in Jayuya.

, at nearly 3,970 feet (1,210 m) above sea level, is located to the east of Barrio Anón. There are many other mountains at lower elevations in the municipality, such as the Montes Llanos ridge and Mount Diablo, at 2,231 feet (680 m) and Mount Marueño, at 2,100 feet (640 m), and Pinto Peak, among others. Part of the Toro Negro Forest is located in Barrio Anón. Coastal

promontories A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the sof ...

include Cuchara, Peñoncillo, Carnero, and Cabullón points. Fifty-six percent of the municipality consists of slopes 10 degrees or greater.

Water features

The 14 rivers comprising the hydrographic system of Ponce are

Matilde Matilde is an alternate spelling of the name Matilda (name), Matilda and may refer to: People *Matilde Borromeo (born 1983), Italian equestrian *Matilde Camus (1919–2012), Spanish poet *Matilde Casazola (born 1942), Bolivian songwriter *Matilde ...

, Inabón,

Jacaguas Jacaguas is a barrio in the municipality of Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 3,957. History Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 and becam ...

, Portugués,

Cañas Canas or Cañas may refer to: Places * Canas (Lycia), a town of ancient Lycia, now in Turkey * Amatlán de Cañas, a municipality in Nayarit, Mexico * Cañas Canton, in Guanacaste province, Costa Rica * Cañas, Costa Rica, capital of the Caña ...

, Pastillo, Cerrillos, Chiquito, Bayagan,

Blanco Blanco (''white'' or ''blank'' in Spanish) or Los Blancos may refer to: People *Blanco (surname) Fictional characters *Blanco, a hobbit in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth *Blanco Webb, character in the BBC sitcom ''Porridge'' * El Blanco, albino ...

, Prieto,

and San Patricio The Jacaguas River runs for a brief stretch on the southeast area of the municipality. The Inabón River springs from Anón ward and runs through the municipality for some ; the tributaries of the Inabón are the

and

Guayo The guayo or ralladera is a metal scraper used as a percussion instrument in traditional styles of Cuban music such as changüí, predecessor of son cubano. Largely replaced by the güiro (gourd scraper) during the 20th century, the guayo is now r ...

rivers and the Emajagua Brook. The Bucaná River springs from Machuelo Arriba ward and runs for into the Caribbean Sea. The tributaries of the Bucaná are the San Patricio, Bayagán, and Prieto Rivers and Ausubo brook. The Portugués River springs from the ward of that name in Adjuntas, and runs for into the Caribbean sea at Ponce Playa ward. The Matilde River, also known as the Pastillo River, runs for ; its tributaries are the Cañas River and the Limón and del Agua brooks. Lakes in Ponce include Bronce and Ponceña as well as lakes bearing numbers: Uno, Dos, Tres, and Cinco; and the Salinas Lagoon, which is considered a restricted lagoon. Other water bodies are the springs at Quintana and the

La Guancha Guancha is a Chinese news site founded by Eric X. Li. Guancha or La Guancha may also refer to: * ''Clathrina'', a genus of sponges also known as ''Guancha'' * La Guancha, Tenerife, a municipality in Tenerife, Canary Islands * Complejo Recreativo ...

and

El Tuque El Tuque is a beach and family recreational and tourist complex in the Punta Cucharas sector of Barrio Canas in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It was designed in the early 1960s by Luis Flores, an architect from Cayey, Puerto Rico. It is located on PR ...

beaches. There is also a beach at Caja de Muertos Island.

Lake Cerrillos Lake Cerrillos (Spanish: Lago Cerrillos) is a man-made lake located in barrio Maragüez, Ponce, Puerto Rico. The lake was finished in 1992 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The main purposes of the reservoir are flood control, water supply ...

is located within the limits of the municipality, as will be the future lake resulting from the

Portugués Dam The Portugués Dam (Spanish: ''Represa Portugués'') is a roller-compacted concrete thick arch dam on the Portugués River, three miles (5 km) northwest of the city Ponce, in Barrio Tibes, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Construction on the dam began ...

. The

Cerrillos State Forest Cerrillos State Forest is one of the 21 state forests in Puerto Rico. It is located in barrio Maragüez, in the municipality of Ponce, and covers of valleys and mountains in the foothills of the Cordillera Central mountain range. The forest h ...

is also located in the municipality of Ponce. Coastal geographic features in Ponce include

Bahía de Ponce Bahía de Ponce (Ponce Bay) is a bay in Barrio Playa, Ponce, Puerto Rico. The Bay is home to the most important commercial harbor on the Puerto Rico south coast and the second largest in Puerto Rico. The Cardona Island Light is located on the ...

, Caleta de Cabullones (Cabullones Cove), and five cays: Jueyes, Ratones, Cardona, Gatas, and

Isla del Frio Isla or ISLA may refer to: Organizations * International Securities Lending Association, a trade association * International School of Los Angeles * International Bilingual School, later named International School of Los Angeles People * Isla (g ...

. Caja de Muertos Island and

Morrillito Morrillito is a small uninhabited island off the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The island is protected by the ''Reserva Natural Caja de Muertos'' natural reserve because of its native turtle traffic. Together with Caja de Muertos, Gatas, Raton ...

islet are located at the boundary between Ponce and Juana Díaz. There is a

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

covering an area of approximately at Cabullón promontory and Isla del Frio. The Salinas Lagoon, part of

Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas (Punta Cucharas Nature Reserve) is a nature reserve in Barrio Canas, Ponce, Puerto Rico. It consists of both a land area component as well as an offshore marine area. The land component has an area of while the ...

, has a mangrove that expands about . The lagoon itself consists of 698 ''cuerdas'' (678 acres; 274 ha). The Rita cave is located in Barrio Cerrillos.

Climate

Ponce features a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

( Koppen Aw/As). Ponce has summer highs averaging and winter highs, .''February Daily Averages for Ponce, PR.''
The Weather Channel. 2012. Accessed 21 July 2019
Archived at the WayBack Machine on 3 November 2012.
/ref> It has lows averaging in the winter and in the summer. It has a record high of , which occurred on 21 August 2003, and a record low of which occurred on 28 February 2004, tying the record low of from 25 January 1993. The mean annual temperature in the municipality is .

Cityscape

Architecture

During the 19th century, the city was witness to a flourishing architectural development, including the birth of a new architectural style later dubbed

Ponce Creole Ponce Creole is an architectural style created in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the late 19th and early 20th century. This style of Puerto Rican buildings is found predominantly in residential homes in Ponce that developed between 1895 and 1920. Ponc ...

. Architects like Francisco Valls, Manuel Víctor Domenech, Eduardo Salich, Blas Silva Boucher, Agustín Camilo González, Alfredo Wiechers,

Francisco Porrata Doria Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

and Francisco Gardón Vega used a mixture of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

and neoclassic styles to give the city a unique look. This can be seen in the various structures located in the center of the city like the

Teatro La Perla Teatro La Perla is a historic theater in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Inaugurated in 1864, it is the second oldest theater of its kind in Puerto Rico, but "the largest and most historic in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean." The theater was name ...

. To showcase its rich architectural heritage, the city has opened the Museum of Puerto Rican Architecture at the Wiechers-Villaronga residence. Many of the city's features (from house façades to

chamfer A chamfer or is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fu ...

ed street corners) are modeled on

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

's architecture, given the city's strong

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

heritage. In 2020, the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

named the Ponce Historic Zone as one of America's most endangered historic places.

Barrios

With 31 ''barrios'', Ponce is Puerto Rico's municipality with the largest number of barrios. Ponce's barrios consist of 12 located in the urban area of the city plus 19 outside the urban zone. Of these nineteen, seven were considered

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

in 1999. The suburban barrios were:

, Portugués,

, Sabanetas,

, and Cerrillos. A 2000 report by the U.S. Census Bureau provides detailed demographics statistics for each of Ponce's barrios. The 2000 Census showed that Montes Llanos is the least populated barrio in the municipality. Thanks to its larger area, barrio Canas was by far the most populated ward of the municipality. At 68 persons per square mile, San Patricio was the least populated, while Cuarto was the most densely populated at 18,819 persons per square mile. Ponce has nine barrios that border neighboring municipalities. These are

, San Patricio,

, and Capitanejo. Canas and Capitanejo are also coastal barrios, and together with three others ( Playa,

, and

) make up the municipality's five coastal barrios. There are also five barrios within the city limits (

Canas Urbano Canas Urbano is one of the 31 barrio of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, Portugués Urbano, and San Antón, Canas Urbano is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are now ...

Machuelo Abajo Machuelo Abajo is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Magueyes Urbano, Portugués Urbano, and San Antón, Machuelo Abajo is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are ...

Magueyes Urbano Magueyes Urbano is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Portugués Urbano, and San Antón, Magueyes Urbano is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that a ...

, and

) that in addition to the original six city core barrios — named

, Segundo,

, Cuarto, Quinto, and

— make up the 11 urban zone barrios of the municipality. The historic zone of the city is within these original six core city barrios. These eleven barrios composed what is known as the urban zone of the municipality. The remaining eight barrios (

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

, Portugués,

, Cerrillos, Sabanetas) are located in the interior of the municipality. These last eight are outside the city limits and are neither coastal nor bordering barrios. A summary of all the barrios of the municipality, their population, population density, and land and water areas as given by the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

is as follows:

Tourism

Due to its historical importance throughout the years, Ponce features many points of interest for visiting tourists. The downtown area contains the bulk of Ponce's tourist attractions. Tourism has seen significant growth in recent years. In 2007, over 6,000 tourists visited the city via cruise ships. Passenger movement at the

Mercedita Airport Mercedita International Airport (AIM, ''Aeropuerto Internacional Mercedita'') is a public use international airport located three nautical miles (6 km) east of the central business district of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The airport cover ...

in FY 2008 was 278,911, a 1,228% increase over fiscal year 2003 and the highest of all the regional airports for that 5-year period. Though not all of these were tourists, it represents a volume larger than the population of the city itself. To support a growing tourist industry, around the 1970s, and starting with the Ponce

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...

, several hotels have been built. Newer lodging additions include the Ponce

Hilton Hilton or Hylton may refer to: Companies * Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc., a global hospitality company based in the United States that owns several hotel chains and subsidiary companies containing the Hilton name ** Hilton Hotels & Resorts, fla ...

Golf & Casino Resort, home to the new Costa Caribe Golf & Country Club, featuring a 27-hole

PGA PGA is an acronym or initialism that may stand for: Aviation * IATA code for Page Municipal Airport, Coconino County, Arizona * ICAO designator for Portugália, regional airline based in Lisbon, Portugal * Abbreviation for Prince George Airport ...

championship

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

. The

Hotel Meliá Hotel Meliá is a historic''Hotel Meliá Ponce.''
...

has operated in the city continuously since the early 20th century. It has also been studied that the

Intercontinental Hotel Intercontinental is an adjective to describe something which relates to more than one continent. Intercontinental may also refer to: * Intercontinental ballistic missile, a long-range guided ballistic missile * InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG ...

, which opened in February 1960 and closed in 1975, could be refurbished and re-opened atop the hill near Cruceta del Vigía as the "Magna Vista Resort". The Ponce Ramada also opened in 2009, and other hotel projects in the works include the Four Points by Sheraton, and

Marriott Marriott may refer to: People *Marriott (surname) Corporations * Marriott Corporation, founded as Hot Shoppes, Inc. in 1927; split into Marriott International and Host Marriott Corporation in 1993 * Marriott International, international hotel ...

Courtyard, among others. In 2013, the downtown Ponce Ramada Hotel added a casino to its 70-room structure. Ponce is part of the Government of Puerto Rico's

Porta Caribe Porta Caribe is a tourism region in southern Puerto Rico. It was established in 2003 by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, an agency of the Government of Puerto Rico. When created in 2003 it consisted of 14 municipalities in the south central zone ...

tourist region.

''Ponce en Marcha''

In recent years an intensive $440 million revitalization project called "''Ponce en Marcha''" ("Ponce on the Move") has increased the city's historic area from 260 to 1,046 buildings. The ''Ponce en Marcha'' project was conceived in 1985 by then governor

during his second term in La Fortaleza and Ponce mayor Jose Dapena Thompson. The plan was approved by the Ponce Municipal Legislature on 14 January 2003. It was signed by Governor Sila Calderon via Executive order (United States), Executive Order on 28 December 2003, and went into effect on 12 January 2004. The plan incorporates a one billion dollars in spending during the period of 2004 through 2012. A significant number of buildings in Ponce are listed in the National Register of Historic Places listings in southern Puerto Rico, National Register of Historic Places. The nonprofit ''Project for Public Places'' listed the Ponce Historic Zone, historic downtown Ponce city center as one of the ''60 of the World's Great Places'', for its "graciously preserved showcase of Caribbean culture". The revitalized historic area of the city goes by various names, including "Ponce Centro" (Ponce Center), "Historic Ponce", and "Historic District." The name "Ponce en Marcha" comes from the revitalization plan of ''Zona Atocha'' in Madrid called ''Atocha en Marcha''.

Landmarks

Fuente de los Leones - Ponce Puerto Rico

The city has been christened as ''Museum City'' for its many quality museums. All museums in Ponce are under municipal government administration. On 15 September 2004, the last four museums not under local control were transferred from the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture to the Ponce Municipal Government by act of the Puerto Rico Legislature. However, these four museums (Armstrong-Poventud Residence, Casa Armstrong Poventud, Casa Wiechers-Villaronga, Museo de la Música Puertorriqueña, and Casa de la Masacre) continue to be controlled by the ICP. Downtown Ponce in particular features several museums and landmarks.

, the town's main square, features a prominent fountain (namely, the "Lions Fountain"), the Ponce Cathedral, and Parque de Bombas, an old fire house, now a museum, that stands as an iconic symbol of the city and a tribute to the bravery of its firefighters. This plaza is also a usual gathering place for "ponceños". Other buildings around Ponce's main plaza include the Casa Alcaldía (Ponce City Hall), the oldest colonial building in the city, dating to the 1840s, and the Armstrong-Poventud Residence, an example of the Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical architectural heritage of the island. Just north of downtown Ponce lies the Castillo Serrallés and the Cruceta del Vigía, a observation tower which overlooks the city. The Serralles castle is reported to receive nearly 100,000 visitors every year. The hill on which the Cruceta is located was originally used by scouts to scan for incoming mercantile ships as well as invading ones. The invasion of American troops in 1898 was first spotted from there. Ponce is home to Puerto Rico's oldest cemetery; in fact, it is the oldest cemetery in the Antilles. In the city outskirts, the Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center was discovered in 1975 after hurricane rains uncovered pottery. The center is the site of the oldest cemetery uncovered up to date in the Antilles. With some 200 skeletons unearthed from the year 300 AD, it is considered the largest and the most important archaeological finding in the West Indies. Two other cemeteries in Ponce worth noting are the Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro and the Cementerio Catolico San Vicente de Paul, both of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places listings in southern Puerto Rico, National Register of Historic Places. The Cementerio Catolico San Vicente de Paul has the most eye-catching burial constructions of any cemetery for the wealthiest families, both local and foreign-born, of southern Puerto Rico. La Guancha

Also in the city outskirts is Hacienda Buena Vista, an estate built in 1833 originally to grow fruits. It was converted into a

plantation and gristmill in 1845. It remained in operation until 1937, then fell into disrepair, but was restored by the government's ''Fideicomiso de Conservación de Puerto Rico''. All the machinery works (the metal parts) are original, operated by water channeled from the 360m Vives waterfall; there is a hydraulic turbine which makes the corn mill work. Paseo Tablado La Guancha is located in the town's sea shore. It features kiosks with food and beverages, an open-space stage for activities, and a marina called Club Náutico de Ponce. From the observation tower on the boardwalk, Cardona Island Light can be seen. A 45-minute boat ride is also available to Isla de Caja de Muertos, Puerto Rico, Isla de Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island), a small island with several beaches and an 1887 Caja de Muertos Light, lighthouse. , the city had also engaged in the development of a convention center with a capacity for 3,000 people. It is also to include two major hotels, apartment buildings and recreational facilities. Puerto Rico Route 143 (PR-143), known as the ''Ruta Panorámica, Panoramic Route'', runs edging near the municipality's northern border.

Culture

The city is home to a long List of Puerto Rico landmarks#Ponce, list of cultural assets including libraries, museums, galleries, and parks, hundreds of buildings of historical value including schools, residences, bridges, and estates, and frequent activities such as festivals and carnivals. The municipality invests close to half a million dollars in promoting its cultural assets. It established its first Ponce Municipal Library, library in 1894 and, had a Ponce Municipal Library, new central library with seven other branches scattered throughout the municipality. CasaPaoli JuanLlanesSantosPRSHPO pic2 MainFacade

CasaPaoli JuanLlanesSantosPRSHPO pic2 MainFacade

A number of cultural events take place during the year, most prominently: * February — Ponce Carnival * March — Feria de Artesanías de Ponce (Ponce Crafts Fair) In 2019, the 45th was held. * April — Ponce Jazz Festival * May — Fiesta Nacional de la Danza; Barrio Playa (Ponce), Playa Festival * July — Barrio San Anton's Bomba Festival * August — Festival Nacional de la Quenepa (National Genip Festival), often the third week * September — Día Mundial de Ponce * November — Discovering Our Indian Roots * December — Patron Saint's Day Festival (''Fiestas patronales in Puerto Rico, Fiestas Patronales'');''Vuelven a Ponce las Fiestas Patronales.''
Carmen Cila Rodríguez. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012. ''Las Mañanitas''; Coro de Niños de Ponce, Children's Christmas Concert The city values its cultural traditions as evidenced by the revitalization project ''Ponce en Marcha.'' It is deeply rooted in its traditional cultural, artistic, and musical heritage. The love for art and architecture, for example, can be appreciated at its museums of art, music, and architecture.

"Over the last century or so, the north [i.e., San Juan] willingly accepted the influence of western culture with its tendency toward large sprawling metropolises, and the displacement of old values and attitudes. Ponce, on the other hand, has been content to retain its old traditions and culture. Ponce is not concerned about losing its long standing position as the second largest city in population after San Juan. On the contrary, she prefers to maintain her current size, and stick to its old traditions and culture."

Some argue that the Ponceño culture is different from the rest of the Island:

"Ponceños have always been a breed apart from other Puerto Ricans. Their insularity and haughtiness are legendary, and some Puerto Ricans claim that even the dialect in Ponce is slightly different from that spoken in the rest of the Island. They are also racially different: you'll see more people of African descent in Ponce than anywhere else in the Island except Loiza, Puerto Rico, Loiza."

Others claim that Ponceños exhibit considerable more civic pride than do residents of other locales. Luis Muñoz Rivera, the most important statesman in the Island at the close of the 19th century, referred to Ponce as "the most Puerto Rican city of Puerto Rico."

Music

Artistic development also flourished during this period. The surging of popular rhythms like Bomba (Puerto Rico), Bomba and Plena took place in the south region of the island, mainly in Ponce. Barrio San Antón is known as one of the birthplaces of the rhythm. Every July, Ponce celebrates an annual festival of Bomba and Plena, which includes various musicians and parades. Immigrants from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and England came to Ponce to develop an international city that still maintains rich

and African heritage. The African personality, belief, and music add flavor and colorful rhythm to Ponce's culture. Part of this are the influences of the Bomba (Puerto Rico), Bomba and Plena rhythms. These are a combination and Caribbean and African music. Ponce has also been the birthplace of several singers and musicians. From opera singers like Antonio Paoli, who lived in the early 20th century, to contemporary singers like Ednita Nazario. Also, salsa music, Salsa singers like Héctor Lavoe, Cheo Feliciano, and Ismael Quintana also come from the city. Dating back to 1858, Carnaval de Ponce, Ponce's Carnival is the oldest in Puerto Rico, and acquired an international flavor for its 150th anniversary. It is one of the oldest carnivals celebrated in the Western Hemisphere. It features various parades with masked characters representative of good and evil. The Museum of Puerto Rican Music, located at the Serrallés-Nevárez family residence in downtown Ponce, illustrates music history on the Island, most of which had its origin and development in Ponce. No discussion of music in Ponce would be complete without rendering honor to the great performances of King of Tenors Antonio Paoli and danza master Juan Morel Campos, both from Ponce. Today, there is a statue of Juan Morel Campos that adorns the Plaza Las Delicias city square, and the Casa Paoli, home where Paoli was born and raised functions as the Puerto Rico Center for Folkloric Research, a research center for Puerto Rican culture. A Ponce Municipal Band, municipal band presents concerts every Sunday evening, and a Youth Symphony Orchestra also performs.

Arts

Museo de Arte, Ponce, Puerto Rico-Exterior

Ponce's love for the arts dates back to at least 1864 when the

was built. Ponce is also the birthplace of artists like Miguel Pou, Horacio Castaing, and several others in the fields of painting, sculpture, and others. The City is one of only seven cities in the Western Hemisphere (the others being Mexico City, Havana, Valparaíso, Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, and Rosario) in the Ruta Europea del Modernisme, an international non-profit association for the promotion and protection of

heritage in the world. Today, Ponce has more museums (nine) than any other municipality in the Island. Ponce is home to the Museo de Arte de Ponce (MAP), founded in 1959 by fellow ''ponceño''

. The museum was operated by Ferré until his death at the age of 99, and it is now under the direction of the Luis A. Ferré Foundation. Designed by Edward Durell Stone, architect of Radio City Music Hall and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, New York, MAP is the only museum of international stature on the Island, the only one that was accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), and the only one that has received a design prize of honor from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). It houses the most extensive art collection in the Caribbean.

Sports

Most of Ponce's professional teams are called the ''Leones de Ponce'' (''Ponce Lions'', or ''Leonas de Ponce, Ponce Lionesses'' as the case may be) regardless of the sport. The Leones de Ponce (basketball), Leones de Ponce basketball team is one of the leading teams of the island, winning 12 championships during their tenure. The team's venue is the Juan Pachín Vicéns Auditorium. The Leones de Ponce (baseball), Leones de Ponce (men's) baseball and the Leonas de Ponce (women's) baseball teams have also been fairly successful. The baseball teams' venue is the Francisco Montaner Stadium. The stadium is located next to the Juan Pachín Vicéns Auditorium. In 1993 the city hosted the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games, Central American and Caribbean Games, from 19 November through 30 November. The city also hosts two international annual sporting events. In the month of May, it hosts the Ponce Grand Prix, a track and field event in which over 100 athletes participate. During the Memorial Day Weekend in the month of September, the city hosts Cruce a Nado Internacional, a swimming competition with over a dozen countries represented. Also, the Ponce Marathon takes place every December, sometimes as part of the ''Las Mañanitas#Puerto Rico, Las Mañanitas'' event on 12 December. The Museo Francisco Pancho Coimbre, Francisco "Pancho" Coimbre Sports Museum, named after the Francisco Coimbre, baseball player of the same name, was dedicated to the honor of Puerto Rico's great sports men and women. It is located on the grounds of the Charles H. Terry Athletic Field, Charles H. Terry Athletic Park on Lolita Tizol Street, just north of the entrance to Historic Ponce at Puente de los Leones (Lions' Bridge) and the Ponce Tricentennial Park. In 2012 the city commenced construction of the multi-sport complex Ciudad Deportiva Millito Navarro. No date has been announced for its completion yet, but its skateboarding section opened in March 2013. The main annual sports events are as follows: * April — Las Justas - intercollegiate sports competition * May — Ponce Grand Prix - international track and field competition * August — Cruce a Nado Internacional - international swimming competition * December — Ponce Marathon, Maratón La Guadalupe - 26-mile national marathon

Recreation

The municipality is home to several parks and beaches, including both passive and active parks. Among the most popular passive parks are the Julio Enrique Monagas Family Park on Ponce By-pass Road (Puerto Rico Highway 2, PR-2) at the location where the Rio Portugués feeds into

. The Dora Colón Clavell Urban Park, Parque Urbano Dora Colon Clavell, another passive park is in the downtown area. Active parks include the Charles H. Terry Athletic Field, and several municipal tennis courts, including one at Poly Deportivos with 9 hard courts, and one at La Rambla with six hard courts. There are also many public basketball courts scattered throughout the various barrios of the municipality. The municipality has 40 beaches including 28 on the mainland and 12 in Caja de Muertos. Among these, about a dozen of them are most notable, including

Beach in the

sector on highway PR-2, west of the city, Paseo Tablado La Guancha, La Guancha Beach at the Complejo Recreativo y Cultural La Guancha, La Guancha sector south of the city, and four beaches in Caja de Muertos, Puerto Rico, Caja de Muertos: Pelicano, Playa Larga, Carrucho, and Coast Guard beach. A ferry must be boarded at La Guancha for transportation to the Caja de Muertos beaches.

Religion

During and after colonization, the Roman Catholic Church became the established religion of the colony. Gradually African slaves were converted to Christianity, but many incorporated their own traditions and symbols, maintaining African traditions as well. Ponce Cathedral, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1839. The Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 allowed for non-Catholics to immigrate legally to Puerto Rico, but it required those who wanted to settle on the island to make a vow of alliance to the Catholic Church. Ponce was the first city in Puerto Rico where Protestantism, Protestant churches were built. Centro Islamico de Ponce, Bo Cuarto, Ponce, PR (IMG 3392)

Centro Islamico de Ponce, Bo Cuarto, Ponce, PR (IMG 3392)

IMG 2874 - Methodist Church on Villa Street in Ponce, Puerto Rico

With the U.S. invasion, there was a significant change in the religious landscape in the City and in Puerto Rico. "The Protestant missionaries followed the footprints of the United States soldiers, right after the Treaty of Paris was ratified and Puerto Rico was ceded to the American government."Aida Belen Rivera Ruiz, Certifying Official, and Juan Llanes Santos, Preparer, Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office. (San Juan, Puerto Rico) 26 February 2008. In ''National Register of Historic Places Registration Form''. United States Department of the Inferior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Page 20. Listing Reference Number 08000283. Section 8, page 16. 11 April 2008. By March 1899, eight months after the occupation, executives from the Methodist Church, Methodists, Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopalians, Southern Baptist Convention, Baptists, Presbyterian Church, Presbyterians, and others, had arranged for an evangelical division whereby Ponce would have Evangelical, Baptist, and Methodist "campaigns". With the passing of the Foraker Act in 1900, which established total separation between Church and State, the absolute power of the Catholic Church eroded quickly. Various Protestant churches were soon established and built in Ponce; today many are recognized as historic sites. Among them are the McCabe Memorial Church (Methodist) (1908), and the Primera Iglesia Metodista Unida de Ponce, Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Methodist) (1907). The bell of the Episcopalian Iglesia de la Santisima Trinidad, Holy Trinity Church in Cuarto (Ponce), Barrio Cuarto, rang again when the Americans arrived on 25 July 1898. Built in 1873, the church was allowed to function by the Spanish Crown under the conditions that its bell would not be rung, its front doors would always remain closed, and its services would be offered in English only. Today, Ponce is home to a mix of religious faiths: both Protestants and Catholics, as well as Muslims, have places of worship in Ponce. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Assemblies of God USA, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Adventists, Evangelical Synod of North America, Evangelicals, Disciples of Christ, and Congregational church, Congregationalists are among the Protestant faiths with a following in Ponce. Catholicism is the faith of the majority of ''ponceños.'' In 2009, the Catholic Church had 18 parishes in the municipality, two bishops and 131 priests. In his ''Memoirs'', Albert E. Lee summed up Ponce's attitude towards religion:

Economy

Traditionally the city's economy had depended almost entirely on the sugarcane industry. Since around the 1950s, however, the town's economy has diversified and today its economy revolves around a mixed-industry manufacturing sector, retail, and tourism. The building of a Port of the Americas, mega port, anticipated to be completed in 2012, is expected to add significantly to the area's economy. Agriculture, retail, and services are also significant players in the local economy. It is considered an agricultural, trade, and distribution center, with manufacturing that includes electronics, communications equipment, food processing, pharmaceutical drugs, concrete plants, scientific instruments and rum distilling as well as an established gourmet coffee agricultural industry.''City of Ponce: Ponce is for all that come to visit. Ponce is Ours...''
Think Ponce. 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013. The city, though, suffers from an unemployment rate that hovers around the 15 percent mark.

Manufacturing

The municipality is considered one of the most developed municipalities in Puerto Rico. Its manufacturing sectors include electronics, electronic and electrical equipment, communications equipment, food processing, pharmaceutical drugs, concrete plants, and scientific instruments. It also produces leather goods, leather products, needlework, and fish flour to a lesser extent. Ponce is home to the Destilería Serrallés, Serralles rum distillery, which manufactures Don Q, and to Industrias Vassallo, a leader in PVC manufacturing. Other important local manufacturers are

, Cristalia Premium Water, Rovira Biscuits Corporation, and Café Rico. Ponce was once the headquarters for

, Ponce Salt Industries, and Ponce Candy Industries.

Agriculture

In the agricultural sector, the most important products are

, followed by Plantain (cooking), plantains, bananas, orange (fruit), oranges, and grapefruits. A mix of public and private services, as well as finance, retail sales, and construction round up Ponce's economic rhythm. Cafe Rico, which metamorphosed from coffee-grower Cafeteros de Puerto Rico, has its headquarters in Ponce.

Retail

For many years commercial retail activity in Ponce centered around what is now Paseo Atocha. This has shifted in recent years, and most retail activity today occurs in one of Ponce's various Shopping mall, malls, in particular Plaza del Caribe. Centro del Sur Mall is also a significant retail area, as is Ponce Mall.

Mega port

Ponce is home to Puerto Rico's chief Caribbean port, the Port of Ponce. The port is expanding to transform it into a mega port, called the Port of the Americas that will operate as an international transshipment port. When fully operational, it is expected to support 100,000 jobs.

Demographics

Ponce has consistently ranked as one of the most populous cities in Puerto Rico. Ponce's population, according to the 2010 census, stands at 166,327, with a population density of 1,449.3 persons per square mile (278.4/km²), ranking third in terms of population among Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican municipalities.

Government

The municipal government has its seat in the city of Ponce. Since its foundation in 1692, the city of Ponce has been led by a mayor. Its first mayor was Pedro Sánchez de Mathos, Don Pedro Sánchez de Matos. The 2008 Puerto Rican general election, 2008 election of María Meléndez, María Meléndez Altieri (New Progressive Party (Puerto Rico), PNP), brought Ponce the first woman to be elected to the mayoral office in the city's history. She was re-elected in 2012 Puerto Rican general election, 2012 and again in 2016 Puerto Rican general election, 2016, and serve as mayor until 2021. In the 2020 Puerto Rican general election, 2020 election Luis Irizarry Pabón, Luis Irizarri Pabón (Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico), PPD) was elected as mayor and is currently serving as mayor. Ponce's best known List of mayors of Ponce, Puerto Rico, mayor of recent years is perhaps Rafael Cordero Santiago, Rafael "Churumba" Cordero Santiago (Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico), PPD), who held office from 1989 until his sudden death on the morning of 17 January 2004, after suffering three successive brain strokes. The city also has a municipal legislature that handles local legislative matters. Ponce has had a municipal council since 1812. The municipal legislature is composed of 16 civilians elected during the general elections, along with the mayor, state representatives and senators. The delegations are, until the 2020 general election, distributed as follows: 13 legislators of the Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico), Popular Democratic Party, two legislators of the New Progressive Party (Puerto Rico), New Progressive Party, and one legislator from the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana, Movimento Victoria Ciudadana. The Ponce City Hall has one of the most unusual histories of any city hall throughout the world. "Originally built in the 1840s as a public assembly hall, Ponce's City Hall was a jail until the end of the 19th century. Current galleries were former cells, and executions were held in the courtyard. Four U.S. presidents spoke from the balcony - Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt and George Bush." It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2005, the municipality's budget was US$152 million. In 2010-2011 it was $158 million. In 2016-2017 the proposed budget was $140 million. From a business perspective, the Ponce municipal government is generally praised for its efficiency and speediness, thanks to its adoption of the Autonomous Municipality Law of 1991. The municipality of Ponce is the seat of the Puerto Rico Senatorial district V, which is represented by two senators. During the 2020 Puerto Rico Senate election, Marially González Huertas, Marially González and Ramón Ruiz, both from the Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico), Popular Democratic Party, were elected as District Senators and are currently serving.

Symbols

The has an official flag and coat of arms.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the municipality is based on the design of the official mayoral seal that was adopted in 1844 under the administration of mayor Salvador de Vives. Escudo de Ponce, Puerto Rico

The coat of arms of Ponce consists of an Escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (shield) in the Escutcheon (heraldry)#Points, Spanish tradition. This shield has a field (heraldry), field with a Heraldry#Divisions of the field, party per bend division. The division runs from top left to bottom right. The field is red and black, bordered with a fine golden line. In the center of the shield is the figure of an erect lion standing on a bridge. The top of the bridge is a golden, the middle is red bricks, and the base foundation is gray rocks. Under the bridge there are gray wavy lines. Over the shield rests a five-tower golden stone wall with openings in the form of red windows. To the left of the shield is a coffee tree branch with its fruit, and to the right of the shield is a sugarcane stalk. The symbols of the shield are as follows: The field represents the flag of the municipality of Ponce, divided diagonally in the traditional city colors: red and black. The lion over the bridge alludes to the last name of the conqueror and first governor of Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce de Leon. The waves under the bridge allude to the Rio Portugues, on the banks of which the city was born. The coronet in the form of a five-tower mural crown above the shield allude to the Spanish crown, through which the settlement obtained its city charter. The coffee tree branch and the sugarcane stalk represent the main agricultural basis of the economy of the young municipality.

Flag

Ponce has two official flags, one for the municipality and one for the city proper. The municipal flag, "the 1692 flag", was adopted in 1967 via a municipal ordinance. This flag, designed by Mario Ramirez, was selected from among a number of public proposals. It consisted of a rectangular cloth divided by a diagonal line into two equal Triangle#Types of triangle, isosceles triangles. The line ran from the top right-hand corner to the bottom left-hand corner. The top triangle was black; the bottom right triangle was red. On the top triangle was the figure of a lion over a bridge. On the bottom triangle was the word "Ponce" with the number "1692", the date when the municipality was founded. Ponce Municipal Assembly Order No. 5, Section 5, of Municipal Assembly Year 1966-1967 established that the last Sunday in April is "Día de la Bandera de Ponce" (Ponce Flag Day). Flag of Ponce, Puerto Rico - 1877 version

Flag of Ponce, Puerto Rico - 1877 version

Ten years later, in 1977, a new municipal ordinance introduced a flag, "the 1877 city flag" to commemorate the one 100th anniversary of the declaration of the ''city'' charter. This (1977) flag consisted of a rectangular cloth divided by a diagonal line, creating two equal isosceles triangles, starting from the top left hand corner and ending on the lower right hand corner. The top triangle is red; the bottom triangle is black. In the center of the flag sits the shield of the municipality. Under this shield is the number "1877", the year of the founding of the city, and above the shield is the word "PONCE". Some flags have the "1877" date on the left border of the bottom triangle and the name of the city on the right border of the triangle, as illustrated in the insert on the left.

Municipal services

Fire protection

The city's fire department has a history of firsts, including being the first organized fire department in the Island. As the largest city in the island at the time, and ''de facto'' economic and social center of Puerto Rico, this in effect also created the first Puerto Rico Fire Department. The Ponce Fire Department also built the first fire station in the Island, which still stands to this day, and is now open as the Parque de Bombas museum. Also, in 1951, Ponce's Fire Chief Raúl Gándara-Cartagena, wrote a book on the firemen's service, which became a firemen's manual in several Latin American countries. In recognition of the service rendered by its fire fighters, the City of Ponce built them homes resulting in the creation of the 25 de Enero Street near the city's historic district.

Major fires

The city has withstood some nearly catastrophic fires. A major fire took place on 27 February 1820, that "almost destroyed the early Ponce settlement". It destroyed 106 "of the best homes in town."''Verdadera y Auténtica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce.'' By Dr. Eduardo Neumann. 1913. (In Spanish) Reprinted by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (1987)Page 194. In 1823, then Governor of Puerto Rico, Miguel de la Torre mandated that "every male from 16 to 60 years old must be a firefighter".Puerto Rico. Cuerpo de Bomberos. Historia. Datos Historicos.
Retrieved 30 November 2009. Those firefighters had to supply their own fire fighting equipment (essentially picks, buckets, and shovels). Unfortunately, once De la Torre left office, this first fire fighting institution started to decay. Another major fire occurred in La Playa (de Ponce), La Playa in March, 1845, that destroyed "most of the Ponce vicinity." It significantly damaged the U.S. Custom House (Ponce, Puerto Rico), Spanish Customs House in Ponce, this being one of the few buildings left standing after the fire. The fire burned down the major buildings of the "Marina de Ponce". After this fire, then governor of Puerto Rico Conde de Mirasol (born Rafael de Aristegui y Velez), created a new fire fighting organization staffed by volunteers. In 1862, the Ponce Firefighters Corps was reorganized under the administration of Ponce mayor Luis de Quixano y Font, and Tomás Cladellas was named fire chief. In 1879 the Ponce Fire Corps reorganized again, with a new fire chief, the local architect Juan Bertoli Calderoni, Juan Bertoli. On 25 September 1880 another fire, took place destroying most of the older civil records (births, baptisms, marriages, etc.) of the Ponce parish. In 1883, the Ponce firefighter corps reorganized once more, this time in a more definitive fashion when Maximo de Meana y Guridi, Máximo Meana was mayor of Ponce. During this time the Ponce Fire Corps was made up of 400 firefighters. Its leadership consisted of Julio Steinacher, fire chief, Juan Seix, second fire chief, Oscar Schuch Olivero, Chief of Brigade, and Fernando M. Toro, Supervisor of the Gymnastics Academy. Concurrent with this, the firefighter corps music band was organized. In September 1883, Juan Morel Campos formally organized the Ponce Fire Corps Municipal Band which exists to this day. Calle 25 de Enero

The fourth Ponce fire of large proportions occurred on 25 January 1899. The fire was fought by a group of firefighters among whom was Pedro Sabater and the civilian Rafael Rivera Esbrí, who would later become mayor of the city. The fire started at the U.S. munitions depot on the lot currently occupied by the Ponce High School building and grounds. The heroes in that fire, believed to have saved the city from certain annihilation, are remembered to this day with monuments on their tombs as well as in a monument in the city square

. As a further gesture of gratitude, a neighborhood of distinctive Victorian-style cottages were constructed to house the firefighters and their families. These houses, painted in the red and black colors of the city, are located along a street named Calle 25 de Enero (''25 de Enero street''); they are still owned and occupied by the descendants of these firefighters and are a scenic attraction in Ponce's historic center.

Police

The Ponce Municipal Police consists of a force of some 500 officers. This force is complemented by the Puerto Rico Police force. The Ponce Municipal Police has its headquarters at the southwest corner of the intersection of Puerto Rico Highway 163, PR-163 (Canas (Ponce), Las Americas Avenue) and PR-2R (Carretera Pámpanos). In addition it has three precincts as follows: Quinto (Ponce), Cantera,

, and

, plus specialized units at Port of the Americas (maritime unit), Canas Urbano, Mariani (transit unit), Segundo (Ponce), Belgica (motorcycle unit), and Primero (Ponce), Parque Dora Clavell (tourism unit). The Puerto Rico Police had its Ponce area regional headquarters from 1970 until 2011 on Hostos Avenue. In 2011 it moved its command center to a new and larger facility further west on Urbanizacion Los Caobos in Barrio Bucana. It commands five precincts in the city: Canas (Ponce), Villa, Playa (Ponce), Playa, Magueyes Urbano, Morel Campos, Machuelo Abajo, La Rambla, and Canas (Ponce), El Tuque. The Ponce municipal coverage of the Puerto Rico Police force is as follows: * The Villa precinct covers barrios Primero, Segundo, Tercero, Cuarto, Quinto, and Sexto, and Portugués Urbano. This precinct includes the historic Ponce district. * The Playa precinct (# 258) covers the barrios of Playa, Capitanejo, Bucaná, and Vayas. * The La Rambla precinct covers barrios Anón, Real, Maragüez, Cerrillos, Coto Laurel, Sabanetas, San Patricio, Monte Llano, Machuelo Arriba, Machuelo Abajo, and Portugués. * The El Tuque precinct covers barrios Canas and Canas Urbano. * The Morel Campos precinct covers barrios Guaraguao, Marueño, Tibes, Magueyes, Magueyes Urbano, and Quebrada Limón.

Crime

In 2002, most of the homicides in Puerto Rico were occurring in San Juan and the greater metropolitan areas of Bayamón, Carolina and Caguas, but Ponce also had a high homicide rate. Also in 2002, Puerto Rico law enforcement officials drafted plans to increase the number of forensic investigators by 25%. The investigators, assigned to the Institute of Forensic Sciences in San Juan, covered homicides in about 65 percent of the island, but the Institute was considering assigning Ponce its own unit. By mid-year 2005, there had been 25 more murder cases in Ponce than for all of 2004, a significant increase. The police acknowledged that most crime cases in Puerto Rico are linked to drug-trafficking and illegal weapons. In mid-July 2005, Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá announced a series of measures aimed at lowering Ponce's high murder rate. Some of those measures included the permanent transfer of 100 agents to the area, the appointment of a ballistics expert from the Institute of Forensic Sciences and of two prosecutors for the Department of Justice in Ponce. Puerto Rico Police Superintendent Pedro Toledo admitted that more than 100 agents are actually needed in the Ponce region in 2005, but that "there would be no additional transfers at the moment to avoid affecting other police areas." Ponce is a convenient transition point for drug smugglers due to its location on the Caribbean Sea and its proximity to Colombia and

. From there packages are then transported to the United States by various means including the United States Postal Service. The city is included in the area's HIDTA region. As most of the crime in Ponce is connected to the drug-trade, police have an eye on illegal smuggling through the Port of Ponce A 2008 government report stated that, "Drug smuggling in containerized cargo is a significant maritime threat to the HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) region. The vast and increasing quantity of goods transshipped through the region every year provides drug traffickers with ample opportunity to smuggle illicit drugs into, through, and from the area. In July 2005, local police scored some points in their fight against drug-trafficking. By 2007, Ponce had experienced a 61% decline in the rate of violent crimes (''Type I''). In 2010, there was a further reduction of 12 percent in violent crimes over 2009 statistics. In August 2013, the Puerto Rico Police#Ponce, Ponce Area Police Region, which includes Ponce and seven other adjacent municipalities, registered 27 fewer Type I crimes that it had by the same period in 2012. For the Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area, MSA, ''which includes the city of Ponce, its nineteen surrounding municipal barrios, the municipality of Juana Diaz, and the municipality of Villalba'', crime data was tabulated in 2002 (Total MSA Population: 364,849). No data is available for the city or for the municipality of Ponce alone. The following statistics are registered: Notes:
^ Violent crimes include: murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
^^ Property crimes include: burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft.
^^^ NNMS, non-negligent manslaughter
Source: FBI

FBI satellite office

There is an Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI satellite office located in Ponce.

Education

Grade schools and high schools

Ponce's first school for boys was established in 1820. Today there are over a hundred public and private schools. As with the rest of Puerto Rico, public education in Ponce is handled by the Puerto Rico Department of Education. However, the local government is taking on a greater role in public education. On 13 June 2010, the mayor of Ponce announced the creation of a Municipal Education System and a School Board with the objective of obtaining accreditation for what would be the first free bilingual school in the city.

Colleges and universities

There are also several colleges and universities located in the city, offering higher education, including professional degrees in architecture, medicine, law, and pharmacy. Some of these are: * Caribbean University - Ponce * Colegio Universitario Tecnologico de Ponce * Interamerican University of Puerto Rico at Ponce * Ponce School of Medicine * Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico ** Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico School of Law ** Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico School of Architecture * Universidad Ana G. Méndez - Ponce * University of Puerto Rico at Ponce There are also several other technical institutions like the Instituto de Banca y Comercio, Trinity College, and the Ponce Paramedical College. Nova Southeastern University, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has a List of pharmacy schools, School of Pharmacy campus in Ponce.

Health care

The city is served by several clinics and hospitals. There are four comprehensive care hospitals: Hospital Dr. Pila, Hospital San Cristobal, Hospital San Lucas, and Hospital de Damas. In addition, Hospital Oncológico Andrés Grillasca specializes in the treatment of cancer, and Hospital Siquiátrico specializes in mental disorders. There is also a United States Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic that provides health services to U.S. veterans. The U.S. Veterans Administration will build a new hospital in the city to satisfy regional needs. In 2009, Hospital Damas was listed in the ''U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the best hospitals under the U.S. flag. Ponce has the highest concentration of medical infrastructure per inhabitant of any municipality in Puerto Rico.

Transportation

Due to its commercial and industrial significance, Ponce has consistently been a hub of transportation to the rest of the island. Puerto Rico Highway 52 provides access to Salinas, Caguas, Puerto Rico, Caguas, and San Juan. Puerto Rico Highway 2, PR-2 grants access to southwestern and western municipalities as a full-access freeway. The Puerto Rico Highway 10, PR-10 highway, which is still under construction as a faster alternative to PR-123, provides access to the interior of the island as well as points north of the island, such as

. Puerto Rico Highway 1, PR-1 provides access to various points east and southeast of Puerto Rico, while PR-14 provides access to Coamo and other points in the central mountain region. PR-132 grants country-side access to the town of Peñuelas. PR-123 is the old road to Adjuntas and, while treacherous, it does provide an appreciation for countryside living in some of the municipality's barrios, such as

and

The city is served by a network of local highways and freeways. Running entirely within the municipal limits are PR-12, PR-9, PR-133, and PR-163 and a few others. Freeway PR-12 runs northbound starting at the Port of Ponce to connect with PR-14 on the northeastern part of the city. PR-9, also known as the ''Circuito de Circumnavegación de Ponce'' (Ponce's Circumferential Highway), is a highway still partly under construction. It runs mostly north of the city and connects PR-52 to PR-10 in an east-to-west fashion; when completed it will run as a beltway around most of the eastern and northern sections of the city. PR-133 (Calle Comercio) connects PR-2 in west Ponce to PR-132. It is an extension of PR-1 from its PR-2 terminus into the city center. PR-163 crosses the City east-to-west connecting PR-52 and PR-14. The municipality has 115 bridges. Ponce's public transportation system consists of taxicabs and share taxi service providing Share taxi, public cars and vans known as ''públicos'' and a bus-based mass transit system.''Nuevo Sistema de Transporte en Ponce: Guaguas recorreran 26 comunidades del la Perla del Sur.''
Sandra Caquías Cruz. El Nuevo Dia. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Page 34. Retrieved 24 February 2012. There are five taxi companies in the city. Most ''públicos'' depart from the terminal hub located in downtown Ponce, the ''Terminal de Carros Públicos Carlos Garay''. During the 1990s and 2000s, there was also a Tram, trolley system reminiscent of the one the city used in the 19th century and which traveled through the downtown streets, and which was used mostly by tourists. Today it is used mostly during special events. There is also a small train that can bring tourists from the historic downtown area to the Paseo Tablado La Guancha on the southern shore, As with the trolley, today the train is used mostly during special events. A ferry provides service to Isla de Caja de Muertos, Puerto Rico, Isla de Caja de Muertos. The new intra-city mass transit system, ''SITRAS'', was scheduled to start operating in November 2011, and, after a 3-month delay, the $4 million SITRAS system, was launched with 11 buses and three routes in February 2012. A fourth route was to be added for the El Tuque sector according to a 30 June 2012 news report.

sits east of downtown Ponce and handles both intra-island and international flights. The airport, used to be a private airfield belonging to Destilería Serralles rum distillery before it became a commercial airport serving the Ponce area in the 1940s. There is daily commercial non-stop air service to points in the United States. Since 1804, Ponce already boasted its own port facilities for large cargo ships. The Port of Ponce is Puerto Rico's chief Caribbean port. It is known as the Port of the Americas (Port of Ponce), Port of the Americas and is under expansion to convert it into a major international shipping hub.Ponencia del Gobierno Municipal Autonomo de Ponce Before the Senate of Puerto Rico. By Rafael Cordero Santiago, Alcalde de Ponce. Page 4.
Retrieved 29 March 2010. It receives both cargo as well as passenger cruise ships. A short-haul freight railroad also operates within the Port facilities.
Brief information and photographs of the Chemex Railroad operation in Ponce.

Notable ''Ponceños''

International relations

The Dominican Republic maintains a consular office in the city.

Twin towns – sister cities

Ponce is Sister city, twinned with: * Zaragoza, Spain

Commemorative dates

The following dates hold special significance for Ponceños and are motive for annual celebrations and/or memorials: * 25 January: ''List of town and city fires#1890s, El Polvorín fire''. Often remembered with a service at the Monumento a los heroes de El Polvorín (mausoleum), mausoleum of the Ponce firefighters at Cementerio Civil de Ponce. * 21 March: ''

''. Often memorialized with a get-together and service at the tomb of the victims at Cementerio Civil de Ponce * 22 March: ''Abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico.'' Often remembered with a Funeral#Memorial services, memorial service at the Monumento a la abolición de la esclavitud. * 26 April (or, last Sunday of April): ''Día de la Bandera Ponceña.'' * 12 August: ''Día Mundial de Ponce, Día de la Fundación de Ponce (Founding Date).''Mariano Vidal Armstrong. ''Ponce: Notas para su Historia.'' San Juan, PR: Comité Historia de los Pueblos, Oficina de Preservación Histórica de Puerto Rico. Second Edition. 1986. p. 17. Often celebrated on the first Sunday of September. * 7 October: ''Mameyes Landslide.'' Often remembered with a get-together and memorial service at the site of the landslide in Barrio Portugués Urbano. * 12 December: ''Las Mañanitas (celebration), Las Mañanitas''. Celebrated yearly with a pre-dawn festival parade, followed by a Catholic Mass (Catholic Church), Mass, and a people, popular town breakfast.''Vuelven a Ponce las Fiestas Patronales.''
Carmen Cila Rodríguez. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2015
Archived at WayBack Machine
on 1 February 2015.

Notes

Footnotes

References

External links

* Photos of Ponce: *
Photos of Ponce at Getty Images
*
Photos of Ponce at Flickr
*
1930s Panoramic view of the city of Ponce
*Tourism *
Information about Ponce's tourist attractions
*
Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes Video & Contact Info.
*
Historic Places in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
*
Management Plan for La Esperanza Nature Preserve in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Matthew Bourque, Drew Digeser, Stephen Partridge, and Hussein Yatim. Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Worcester, Massachusetts. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2013. * Autonomous Municipalities Laws: *
Commonwealth Laws Regarding Autonomous Municipalities
*
Text of Autonomous Municipalities Law (in Spanish)
* Ponce History *
Official website of Municipality of Ponce. Ponce y su Importancia Historica
*

** [http://www.lexjuris.com/lexjuris/tspr2000/lex2000194b.htm 29 December 2000 'Ponce en Marcha' Dissent Opinion from Associate P.R. Sup. Court Justice Honorable Efraín Rivera Pérez (page 1)] *
29 December 2000 'Ponce en Marcha' Dissent Opinion from Associate P.R. Sup. Court Justice Honorable Efraín Rivera Pérez (page 2)
* Census: *
Ponce and its barrios, United States Census Bureau
* Others: *
Autonomous Municipality of Ponce official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce, Puerto Rico, Municipalities of Puerto Rico 1692 establishments in Puerto Rico 1692 establishments in the Spanish West Indies Ponce metropolitan area Populated coastal places in Puerto Rico Populated places established in 1692 Port cities in Puerto Rico Port cities in the Caribbean

History

Early settlers

19th-century immigrants

Ponce in the 20th century

U.S. invasion

Period of stagnation

Ponce massacre

Hub for political and economic activity

1970s economic decline

Recent history

Geography

Land features

Water features

Climate

Cityscape

Architecture

Barrios

Tourism

''Ponce en Marcha''

Landmarks

Culture

Music

Arts

Sports

Recreation

Religion

Economy

Manufacturing

Agriculture

Retail

Mega port

Demographics

Government

Symbols

Coat of arms

Flag

Municipal services

Fire protection

Major fires

Police

Crime

FBI satellite office

Education

Grade schools and high schools

Colleges and universities

Health care

Transportation

Notable ''Ponceños''

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Commemorative dates

See also

Notes

Footnotes

References

External links