Beatriz is a

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 delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

in the municipality of

Caguas, Puerto Rico Caguas (, ) is a Caguas barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in central eastern Puerto Rico. Located in the eponymous Caguas Valley between the Sierra de Cayey and Sierra de Luquillo of the Cordillera Central (Puer ...

. Its population in 2020 was 3,281.

Geography

Beatriz is located at the coordinates . According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, Beatriz has a total area of 15.89 km², of which 15.89 km² is land and (0.03%) 0.01 km² is water. Beatriz is located in the

Sierra de Cayey The Sierra de Cayey ( English: "Cayey Mountains") is one of three subranges of the Cordillera Central mountain range in the main island of Puerto Rico. It is demarcated from the eponymous main subrange of ''Cordillera Central'' by the San Crist� ...

, a subrange of the

Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...

mountain range, making it one of the ''barrios'' of Caguas which are not located in the Caguas Valley. The name of the barrio comes from the Doña Beatriz Creek which crosses it and flows into the Turabo River.

Sectors and demographics

Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions) 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. The following sectors are in Beatriz: According to the 2010 Census, there were 4,353 people residing in Beatriz. The population density was 27,391 inhabitants per km². Of 4,353 inhabitants, Beatriz was composed of 68.76% Whites, 13% were Black, 0.62% were American Indian, 0.05% were Asian, 0.02% were Pacific Islanders, 12.27% were of other races and 5.28% belonged to two or more races. In all, the population was 99.47% Hispanic or Latino.

History

Beatriz was in Spain's

gazetteer A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or wikt:directory, directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas.Aurousseau, 61. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup, social statistics and physical features of a co ...

s until Puerto Rico was ceded by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the aftermath of the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

under the terms of the

Treaty of Paris of 1898 The Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, commonly known as the Treaty of Paris of 1898, was signed by Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States on December 10, 1898, and marked the end of the ...

and became an

unincorporated territory of the United States Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

. In 1899, the

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

conducted a

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Beatriz barrio was 868. The area was mostly made up of subsistence farms in the 19th century. Botanist

William Edwin Safford William Edwin Safford (December 14, 1859, Chillicothe, Ohio – January 10, 1926) was a United States botanist, ethnologist, and educator employed by the U.S. Navy and federal government. Safford graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1880 and p ...

visited Beatriz in 1898 to document the local plant life. The 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane devastated Beatriz, and many farmers began working for the newly established

military government A military government is any government that is administered by a military, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue or by an occupying power. It is usually administered by military personnel. Types of m ...

of the United States of America building roads. At the time, a store owned by wealthy landowner Don Ramón Álvarez was the center of economic life in Beatriz. In 1900, one of the store's cashiers Don Demetrio López was elected

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

and comisario of Beatriz. Beatriz barrio was hit by

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

on 20 September 2017 and many residents still did not have electricity as of March 2018, six months later.

Landmarks and places of interest

* Carretera Central, the historic road connecting

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

in the north to Ponce in the south passes through Beatriz. * Centro Los Panes, a

community center A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

near La Jurado sector. *

Cerro Las Piñas Cerro Las Piñas (Spanish for "pineapples hill") is a mountain of the Sierra de Cayey located in the boundary between the municipalities of Caguas and Cayey in central Puerto Rico. The summit is located at 2,425 feet (739 m) above sea level, in t ...

, a hill located in the boundary with Beatriz, Cayey which offers panoramic views of the Caguas Valley and its surrounding mountains. Puente Las Quebradillas, Caguas, Puerto Rico.jpg, between Beatriz, Borinquen and Turabo barrios

References

External links