San Antón is one of the 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 of the
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 ...
of
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...
. Along with
Canas Urbano,
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 ...
,
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
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 ...
, San Antón is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are now also part of the urban zone of the city of Ponce. It is totally enclosed within the Ponce city limits. It was founded in 1818.
History
San Antón is one of Ponce's oldest barrios. It is believed that this is where
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, Can ...
colonists first settled. It sits on the western bank of
Rio Portugues
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 ...
. The name San Antón comes from the small chapel that Don Antonio Abad Rodríguez Berrios ordered to be built towards the end of the 16th century to honor
San Antonio Abad. It was organized in 1831. In 2010, the Government of Puerto Rico declared it "''Cuna de la Plena''" (English: Birthplace of the
plena
Plena is a genre of music and dance native to Puerto Rico.
Origins
The plena genre originated in Barrio San Antón, Ponce, Puerto Rico, around 1900. It was influenced by the bomba style of music. Originally, sung texts were not associated wit ...
).
Location
San Antón is an urban barrio located in the southern section of the municipality, within the Ponce city limits, and southeast of the traditional center of the city,
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 ...
. The
toponymy
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
, or origin of the name, is related to the Catholic Church saint
San Antonio Abad.
Boundaries
San Anton is bounded on the North by Boulevard Miguel Pou/
PR-1
Puerto Rico Highway 1 (PR-1) is a highway in Puerto Rico that connects the city of Ponce to San Juan. Leaving Ponce, the road heads east and follows a somewhat parallel route along the southern coast of the island heading towards Salinas. At S ...
and Nine Street (Calle 9) of Urb. Jardines Fagot, on the South by
PR-2
Puerto Rico Highway 2 (PR-2) is a road in Puerto Rico that connects the cities of San Juan and Ponce. At 156 miles (230 km) long, it is Puerto Rico's longest singled-signed highway.
The road runs counter-clockwise from San Juan to Ponce. ...
, on the West by
Rio Portugues
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 ...
, Emilio Fagot Avenue, and Boulevard Miguel Pou/
PR-1
Puerto Rico Highway 1 (PR-1) is a highway in Puerto Rico that connects the city of Ponce to San Juan. Leaving Ponce, the road heads east and follows a somewhat parallel route along the southern coast of the island heading towards Salinas. At S ...
, and on the East by
PR-2
Puerto Rico Highway 2 (PR-2) is a road in Puerto Rico that connects the cities of San Juan and Ponce. At 156 miles (230 km) long, it is Puerto Rico's longest singled-signed highway.
The road runs counter-clockwise from San Juan to Ponce. ...
(roughly) and
Rio Bucana
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 ...
.
In terms of barrio-to-barrio boundaries, San Antón is bounded in the North by
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 ...
and
Sabanetas, in the South by
Playa, in the West by
Cuarto,
Quinto, and
Canas Urbano, and in the East by
Sabanetas 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 ...
.
Demographics
![Café Rico headquarters in barrio San Antón, Ponce, PR (DSC00321)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Caf%C3%A9_Rico_headquarters_in_barrio_San_Ant%C3%B3n%2C_Ponce%2C_PR_%28DSC00321%29.jpg)
San Antón has an estimated of land area and of water area. In 2000, the population of San Antón was 11,271 persons, representing an estimated population density of 6,630 persons per square mile.
In 2010, the population of San Antón was 10,992 persons, and it had a density of 9,727.4 persons per square mile.
The communities of Caracoles, Constancia, Jardinet Fagot, Valle Verde, and San Anton (proper) are located in this barrio.
San Anton proper
The neighborhood
Houses in this neighborhood are small, wooden houses, looking "as if they were a '
relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
from the past" when contrasted with the modern, middle-class suburban homes in other parts of the Ponce, such as Constancia, which is next to the old, original San Anton proper, which is still standing.
[Revolutionary Ideas in Planning: Identity, Power & Place @ The Margins By Wanda I. Mills, Department of Urban Planning, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. Proceedings of the 1998 National Planning Conference. AIC Press. 1998.](_blank)
The two residential communities exist side-by-side along the fringes in urban Ponce. Compared to other nearby communities San Anton steadfastly clings to its traditions.
History
The 1950s introduced a period of economic transformation, and the emergence of the Ponce middle class. The era was characterized by the transition from agricultural capitalism to industrial capitalism. Immediately following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the federal government encouraged the growth of
industries,
highway
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
s and development
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
,
mass-produced
Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and ba ...
single family homes and
urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
in Ponce and the rest of Puerto Rico. The rural agricultural lands that once encircled San Anton were rapidly absorbed and behind was left but a skeleton of the community that this neighborhood once was.
San Anton is often referred to as the "barrio of the freed slaves."
The barrio houses the remaining
progeny of the largest concentration of freed blacks in southern Puerto Rico. Surnames there such as Roque,Cabrera, Franceschi, Tricoche, Arce and Oppenheimer link the predominantly black residents of this barrio to their 19th century European and Creole "estate owners." The barrio is located in close proximity to what were
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...
fields and three major central sugar
mill
Mill may refer to:
Science and technology
*
* Mill (grinding)
* Milling (machining)
* Millwork
* Textile mill
* Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel
* List of types of mill
* Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...
s,
Mercedita,Hacienda La Fe, and Hacienda Teresa. When the enslaved peoples received their freedom in 1873, the former masters passed on land rights to some residents; while others migrated to San Anton from nearby
municipalities
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 ...
or distant
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
islands.
Besides its working class contributions, San Anton is recognized nationally and internationally for its contributions to the development of the Puerto Rican popular music of
Bomba and
Plena
Plena is a genre of music and dance native to Puerto Rico.
Origins
The plena genre originated in Barrio San Antón, Ponce, Puerto Rico, around 1900. It was influenced by the bomba style of music. Originally, sung texts were not associated wit ...
. Over the years, the community also offered up a disproportionate number of accomplished artists, athletes and popular hero(ine)s. By the early 1960s, however, pivotal political decisions gave way to a massive "development" program, which encouraged the disintegration of the larger San Anton barrio and produced a decline in its cultural production. Most of the residents were displaced to newly constructed housing projects, while others migrated north to the
San Juan Metropolitan center or to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Transition
![Sign marking Isabel la Negra Street in Barrio San Antón in Ponce, PR (DSC00329)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Sign_marking_Isabel_la_Negra_Street_in_Barrio_San_Ant%C3%B3n_in_Ponce%2C_PR_%28DSC00329%29.jpg)
The remnants of the San Anton of old were described in the 1960s as "dilapidated wooden houses shielded with scraps of
galvanized
Galvanization or galvanizing ( also spelled galvanisation or galvanising) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerged ...
sheeting, crooked alleys, abandoned open spaces, stagnant water" and other such phrases.
By 1992, the area's zoning was changed from medium density residential zoning (R-3), to the category of "Conceptual Development/ Redevelopment Area". This change implied a shift from medium density residential (no retail businesses) to an open category that allowed for commercial, industrial, residential, or combined land use. A connector road was scheduled to pass through the community, in order to connect the regional highway network to nearby vacant lands.
One author notes that given these changes, it was obvious that time and development had placed the residents of this barrio in a position of no return. "Regional infrastructural expansion, the potential increase in area property values, the community's proximity to the central business district and major transportation routes, the area's mature landscape, and relatively undeveloped lands are sure to encourage speculation and future commercial development."
The 'Ponce en Marcha' plan
In the early 1990s the city of Ponce was undergoing a massive revitalization program, known as "Ponce en Marcha." The "Ponce en Marcha" plan sought to recuperate the Ponce's urban center, and restore the architectural qualities of the city's golden age of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The program encompassed the
historic zone, transportation routes,
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
, and improvements to the urban infrastructure. The city also targeted several low-income communities for revitalization. These included the popular neighborhoods of Arenas de Betances (at Mayor Street) and
25 de Enero Street.
Although, the San Anton neighborhood was also programmed for revitalization, a question of legitimacy quickly arose, questioning whether San Anton had revitalization merit. "The municipal government proposed to "align" (urbanize) the existing residential structures in San Anton while maintaining the typology of "how San Anton appeared in the days of yesteryear." By allotting individual parcels, the Office of Housing and Community Development reasoned that San Anton would become more efficient and modernized. In reality, this view implied reorganizing San Anton's spatial patterns to suit the administrative interests of the Ponce municipal government. The municipal government was less concerned about the tangible and invisible spatial characteristics of the barrio that encouraged security, social contact, relationships, and the perpetuation of local understandings among its residents.
One dissenting urban planner asserted that: "It is certain that the San Anton barrio is one of the poorest communities in Ponce, and that it is at an advanced state of physical
degradation
Degradation may refer to:
Science
* Degradation (geology), lowering of a fluvial surface by erosion
* Degradation (telecommunications), of an electronic signal
* Biodegradation of organic substances by living organisms
* Environmental degradatio ...
. However, one cannot overlook the need to conserve the neighborhood's social and urban characteristics. San Anton's 'organic' development patterns have contributed significantly to the community's quality of life which is conserved to this day, and which contemporary urban developments are often unable to achieve"
Resident complaints
Residents revolted against the government's plans for their community. For example, San Anton resident and school teacher Maria Judith Banchs Cabrera described San Anton's spatial and social traditions indicating that every family yard has its own particular characteristics, and way of life, which have developed over the years and that these understandings bypass the findings any sociological report that the municipality may have engaged in. It became clear to the municipal government that if they removed a person from their property, they would be taking them away from their origins, their ancestors, and thus aligning the properties would cause problems. It recognized that most architects did not understand this sociological element.
Today
In the end the City had to yield to most resident demands. The residents, for their part, seeing the benefits that revitalization elsewhere in Ponce had brought to those communities conceded to giving it a try also and, by 1998, the neighborhood was revitalized.
By 2000 approximately 40 San Anton households moved into their new homes which still conserved the spatial arrangement the residents were used to. New water lines were installed, and street lighting, sidewalks, and cul-de-sac layouts are now an integral part of San Anton.
Legacy
A music video by local recording star,
Ednita Nazario
Edna María Nazario Figueroa (born April 11, 1955) is a Puerto Rican musician, singer, and composer who has achieved stardom both at home and abroad. She has been in the music business from a young age and has released twenty-three (23) studio ...
, was filmed against the backdrop of the renewed community.
Notable landmarks
San Anton is home to the
Ceiba Tree Park
Parque de la Ceiba (English: Ceiba Tree Park) is a passive park in sector Cuatro Calles of barrio San Antón, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Its centerpiece is the historic Ceiba tree, a tree associated with the founding of the city. Now surrounded by the ...
. San Anton proper has a small park named "Rafael “Caró” Maldonado".
Notable people from San Antón
*
Isabel la Negra
*
Felix Maldonado
*
Luis Antonio ("Mambo") de León Tricoche
*
Wichie Torres
*
Juan "Papo" Franceschi
Juan "Papo" Franceschi (12 January 1947 – 20 October 1990), was a Puerto Rican track and field athlete from Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Biography
Juan "Papo" Franceschi was born in Barrio San Anton, Ponce, Puerto Rico, on 12 January 1947. Franceschi ...
*
Otto Velez[Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades. ''Ponce Ciudad Museo 2001.'' 2001. p. 114.]
Gallery
File:Restaurante La Casa del Chef, Mall Centro del Sur, Bo. San Anton, Ponce, PR, mirando hacia el suroeste (DSC01438).jpg, Puerto Rican food restaurant on the campus of Centro del Sur Mall
File:Parque Ecologico Urbano, entrada, mirando hacia el oeste, en Ponce, Puerto Rico (DSC07243).JPG, Ecology-themed park on Bulevar Miguel Pou
File:Ponce Municipal Library in Barrio San Anton, Ponce, Puerto Rico (6218397557).jpg, Ponce Municipal Library on Bulevar Miguel Pou
See also
*
List of communities in Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, there are 78 municipalities and 902 municipio subdivisions made up of 827 barrios and 75 barrios-pueblo. There are also a number of subbarrios and communities. The following is a list of the 902 barrios, some of the subbarrios, i ...
References
Further reading
''AN ACT- To recognize San Antón Ward of the Municipality of Ponce as a place of historic and cultural interest, and designate it as the “Cradle of Plena,” and to provide for coordination between the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and the Municipality of Ponce to implement the provisions of this Act, and to promote the historic and cultural values of this community.'' Puerto Rico House of Representatives Bill No. 1392. Act # 91 of 2010. Approved July 26, 2010.* ''Scripts of Blackness: Race, Cultural Nationalism, and U.S. Colonialism in Puerto Rico.'' Isar P. Godreau. University of Illinois Press. 2015.
* ''Globalization and Race: Transformations in the Cultural Production of Blackness.''
Kamari Maxine Clarke and Deborah A. Thomas, editors. Duke University Press. 2006.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:San Anton
Afro–Puerto Rican
Barrio San Antón
1831 establishments in Puerto Rico