Toa Alta () is a town and

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

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

located in the northern coast of the island, north of Naranjito; south of

Dorado Dorado () is a constellation in the southern sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus''), which is known as ''dorado'' in Spanish, altho ...

and Toa Baja; east of

Vega Alta Vega Alta () is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico. Vega Alta is on the northern coast of the island, north of Morovis and Corozal; east of Vega Baja; and west of Dorado with an area of . Vega Alta is subdivided into seven barrios and Ve ...

and Corozal; and west of Bayamón. Toa Alta is spread over eight barrios and Toa Alta Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo metropolitan statistical area. There are nine barrios in Toa Alta and altogether in 2020 had a population of 66,852. Río de la Plata, is a large river that runs through Toa Alta. Toa Alta celebrates its patron saint festival in May.

History

Toa Alta is located west of the capital city of

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), ...

and was founded in 1751, making it one of the oldest towns on the main island of Puerto Rico. The construction of the San Fernando Rey Church in the main town square began in 1752. It is popularly said that the name Toa Alta comes from 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 ...

word for mother or fertility, ''Thoa''. Most likely the word ''toa'' comes from the Taino word for ''valley'' or ''mountain''; the region is also known as ''Valle del Toa'' (Toa Valley). Over the years, agriculture became an important economic force in the area. At the peak of the agricultural economy, the town was also known as the ''"Granja de los Reyes Católicos"'' (the Farm of the Catholic Monarchs). The town is also called ''Ciudad del Josco''. The town is commonly known by its nickname ''La Cuna de los Poetas'', or "Cradle of Poets", due to the numerous

Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Am ...

poets born there, such as Abelardo Díaz Alfaro and the musician Tomás "Masso" Rivera.

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect ...

on September 20, 2017 triggered numerous landslides in Toa Alta. Many homes and roads in Toa Alta were destroyed by the hurricane.

Flood control project

In mid 2018, the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

announced it would be undertaking a major

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

project of a river that often causes flooding in Toa Alta,

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

Geography

Toa Alta is located on the Northern Coastal Plain in the Northern Karst zone.

Barrios

Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Toa Alta is subdivided into barrios. The municipal buildings, central square and large Catholic church are located in a barrio referred to as . # Contorno # Galateo #

Mucarabones Mucarabones is a barrio in the municipality of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 23,221. 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 bec ...

# Ortíz # Piñas # Quebrada Arenas #

Quebrada Cruz Quebrada Cruz is a barrio in the municipality of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 5,343 living in over 30 sectors. History Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War under the terms of the Trea ...

# Río Lajas # Toa Alta barrio-pueblo

Sectors

Barrios (which are like

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

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

Special Communities

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

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

. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Toa Alta: Comunidad Acerolas, Sector Cuba Libre, Sector La Prá, Villa del Río, Villa Josco, and Villa Juventud.

Demographics

Tourism

Landmarks and places of interest

*Legendary tree '' Bala de Cañón'' *Tomás "Maso" Rivera Municipal Theatre *Tomás "Maso" Rivera Statue *Egozcué Square public plaza *San Fernando Rey Parish Church *Villa Tropical Recreation Center *Plaza Aquarium Mall *Valle ''El Toa''

Economy

Culture

Festivals and events

Toa Alta celebrates its

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

festival in May. The is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment. or the Festival of the Mechanical Bull is held in October. Other festivals and events celebrated in Toa Alta include La Chopa Marathon, held in March, and Folk Music Festival, held in November.

Government

Like all municipalities in

, Toa Alta is administered by a mayor. The current mayor is Clemente Agosto, from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). Agosto was elected at the 2012 general election. The city belongs to the

Puerto Rico Senatorial district II Puerto Rico Senatorial District II, also known as the Senatorial District of Bayamón, is one of the eight senatorial districts of Puerto Rico. It is currently represented by Migdalia Padilla and Carmelo Ríos Santiago (both from the New Progr ...

, which is represented by two senators. Migdalia Padilla and

Carmelo Ríos Santiago Carmelo Javier Ríos Santiago (born May 21, 1973 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican politician, lawyer and senator. He has been a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico since 2005. Early years and studies Carmelo Ríos was born on May 2 ...

have served as District Senators since 2005.

Transportation

There are 16 bridges in Toa Alta. In January, 2019 the mayor of Toa Alta fought for the reopening of highway #861, which, he stated, was closed without warning by Puerto Rico Public Works.

Symbols

The has an official flag and coat of arms.

Flag

Horizontally divided in three, the bottom and top red stripes are double the size of the center yellow stripe. In the upper left corner is a yellow, eight-point star. The original design was elaborated by professor Herman E. Perez and adopted by the City Council in 1983.

Coat of arms

The shield in gold, a red board with a silver sword topped with a gold crown of the same metal, to each side two small shields in red, the right-hand one with a tower in gold with a crescent moon on the top and the left-hand one with a gold eight point star, a five tower crown lined in black with red openings. The motto is ''Non Deserit Alta'' and Professor Herman E. Pérez included it in the coat of arms so that present and future generations will remember to “not abandon higher principles and values”.

Education

There are several public and private schools in Toa Alta and public education is handled by the

Puerto Rico Department of Education The Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE; ) is one of the statewide public education system in the United States, with (Hawaii being the other). The PRDOE is the state education agency in charge of managing public schools in Puerto Rico as ...

Elementary schools

*Alejandro Junior Cruz *Heraclio Rivera Colón *José de Diego *José María del Valle *Luis Muñoz Rivera *Manuel Velilla *María C. Osorio *Merced Marcano *Secundino Díaz *Violanta Jiménez *Virgilio Morales

Middle and junior high schools

*José Pablo Morales *Abelardo Díaz Alfaro *Felipe Díaz González

High schools

*Adela Rolón Fuentes *Nicolás Sevilla *Tomás "Maso" Rivera Morales

Private schools

*Academia Cristiana Yarah *Colegio Doriber

Notable natives and residents

*Sergeants José Díaz and Francisco Díaz – defended Puerto Rico from a British invasion in 1797 * Dayanara Torres Delgado – Miss Universe 1993