- History of Mayagüez
=Founding=
The founding of Mayagüez was requested on
July 19 ,1760 by a group led byFaustino Martínez de Matos ,Juan de Silva andJuan de Aponte , at a hill located about one kilometer inland fromMayagüez Bay and the outlet of theYagüez River . It was officially founded onSeptember 18 ,1760 . "Maygüez" was the indigenous name for this river (the word means "clear water" in the language of its original inhabitants, theTaíno ). [Gaudier, Martín, Genealogías, Biografías e Historia del Mayagüez de Ayer y Hoy y Antología de Puerto Rico, 1957, p. 45. (Gaudier quotes Regino Cabassa, who first published this in 1944)] "Mayagüez" is a variation on this name, which means "Land of Clear Waters" and eventually gave the city its nickname. The Taínos had settled the area for hundreds of years before the town's founding, at the nearby settlement of Yagüeca (also spelled "Yagüexa" or "Yaweka"), which sits near a larger river, the "Rio Grande de Añasco " (originally named "Guaorabo"). A theory likening the name to anahuatl term which translates into "Land of the Setting Sun" is unsubstantiated.The Spanish Crown granted the founders the right to self-government in 1763, formally separating the town from the larger Partido de
San Germán . Originally the settlement was named "Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Mayagüez" (Our Lady of the Candelaria of Mayagüez). Most of the town's settlers, including its founders, came originally from theCanary Islands , whose patron saint is theVirgin of Candelaria , hence the name.In 1777, two American frigates, the "Endowok" and the "Henry", took refuge in Mayagüez Bay as to evade attack from the British ship HMS "Glasgow". The local government lent two Spanish flags to the American frigates to disguise them as Spanish ships. After protesting unsuccessfully to the Spanish authorities, the captain of the Glasgow chose not to attack the ships and retired from the area.
Villa status and the Great Fire of 1841
On
7 May 1836 , the settlement was elevated to the royal status ofvilla , and Rafael Mangual was named its firstmayor . At the time, the villa's principal economic activity wasagriculture . The famous patriot, educator, sociologist, philosopher, essayist, and novelistEugenio María de Hostos was born in Mayagüez in 1839.On
30 January 1841 a fire nearly destroyed the villa (it burned 300 out of the 500 existing housing units in town). The town was rebuilt with some of its main roads widened as to prevent any future fires to spread quickly. [ [http://memory.loc.gov/gmd/gmd4/g4974/g4974m/ct000298.sid Drouyn, Federico, "Plano de la población después del incendio del año 1841 que la redujo a cenizas casi en su totalidad", 1888] ] The Spanish military governor of Puerto Rico, Gen. Santiago de Méndez Vigo personally raised funding through a subscription fund to rebuild the entire city; eventually one of Mayagüez's three main thoroughfares was named in his honor.The local
fire department was founded on 1843; it contained major fires in 1852 and 1866 and performed hurricane rescue and relief operations in 1852. The villa's first census was held on 1844.Mayagüez later became the cultural and political center of the western part of Puerto Rico. Due to its physical isolation from the rest of the island (the city was founded on a coastal valley surrounded by mountains) and its need for self-sufficiency from Puerto Rico's main government (which, some of its current inhabitants claim, lasts to this day) Mayagüez developed a peculiar local culture and a strong sense of regional pride that tends to distinguish its inhabitants from the rest of Puerto Rico's. Some historians claim that this strong, fiercely independent culture was responsible for breeding not only liberal thinkers such as Eugenio María de Hostos, but also radical ones such as Dr.
Ramón Emeterio Betances , the father of the Puerto Rican independence movement and first medical director of Mayagüez's Municipal Hospital (currently known as "Hospital San Antonio"),Segundo Ruiz Belvis , the father of the Puerto RicanAbolitionism movement and a former city administrator, andJosé de Diego , first president of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives and founder of the localCollege of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts . TheGrito de Lares , Puerto Rico's first major pro-independence revolt, was planned at a farm in the outskirts of town. TheSeptember 23 ,1868 revolution was remotely organized by Dr. Betances who, twelve years earlier, had literally saved the town from extinction by a cholera epidemic that killed over 30,000 people in the island and decimated the town's population. Today, the local medical center and the main throughfare that crosses the city from north to south are named after Dr. Betances.City status
On
10 July 1877 the villa formally received itscity charter from the Royal Crown ofSpain .The "Escuela Libre de Música" or Free Music School was founded in 1894 and directed by
Fernando Callejo . In 1896, a statue was raised in the mainplaza to honorCristopher Columbus . That same year the villa formally received its current formal title, "Excelente Ciudad de Mayagüez". The local produce market, the "Plaza del Mercado", formerly an open-air market, was eventually housed in a new building erected in the early 1890s, a prefabricated structure designed byGustave Eiffel 's construction company.Late 19th and 20th centuries
On
August 11 ,1898 , during theSpanish-American War , U.S. troops (from the 5th. Cavalry, 11th. Infantry and 19th. Infantry, under Gen.Theodore Schwan ) entered Mayagüez. Spanish troops encircled the city however. A battle never occurred, and the invading troops were well-received. According to chronicles of the day a young local boy was given the task of raising the Star and Stripes at the "Casa del Rey" (City Hall) and raised it upside down, with the canton to the floor, without knowing this was a symbol of distress. A few of the American troops eventually settled in Mayagüez, including Sgt. Frank Cole, the father of later mayorBenjamin Cole .In 1911, the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts was founded in Mayagüez. Today it is known as the
University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) — the Caribbean's leadingscience andengineering institution.The city of Mayagüez was nearly destroyed again on
October 11 1918 by an earthquake and a tsunami. Most of the town had to be rebuilt, including City Hall (a newcupola was added, resembling that ofNew York City Hall ). OnJune 20 1919 a fire nearly destroyed theTeatro Yagüez , the town's main theater, killing 92 (some say 150) people. The Teatro was later rebuilt and remodeled twice; it is now Mayagüez's municipal theater.The city's main Roman Catholic church, "“Our Lady of the Candelaria”" (plot consecrated on
21 August 1760 , first masonry building erected in 1780, current church originally built in 1836) was rebuilt in 1922. The original redesign by architectLuis Perocier sought to restore the building to its original splendor. Not only had the 1918 earthquake destroyed the temple's ceiling, but a lightning bolt also struck and tore down a wedge-shaped corner of one of its two bell towers. However, lack of proper funding and the extent of the damage of the original structure forced the actual rebuilding of the church to be scaled-down considerably.Pope Paul VI authorized the founding of the
Diocese of Mayagüez onApril 1 ,1976 , which led to the rededication of the church as acathedral soon after. A few years later the first bishop of the city, Mons. Ulises Casiano Vargas (who assumed the bishop's office onApril 30 ,1976 ) led the drive for the cathedral's remodeling following Perocier's original plan; the remodeled cathedral was reopened onJanuary 1 ,2004 .Between 1962 and 1998 Mayagüez was a major tuna canning and processing center. At one time, 80% of all tuna products consumed in the United States were packed in Mayagüez (the biggest employer, StarKist, had 11,000 employees working three daily shifts in the local plant's heyday). Mayagüez was also a major textile industry hub; until very recently, almost a quarter of all drill uniforms used by the
United States Army were sewn in the city.On
May 12 ,1975 a unit of the CambodianKhmer Rouge seized a container ship, the "SS Mayagüez ", on theGulf of Siam . The botched recovery of the ship's crew by theU.S. Marine Corps off the island ofKoh Tang — which occurred onMay 15 — became known as theMayagüez Incident , considered by historians as one of presidentGerald Ford 's first foreign policy setbacks. The container ship was actually part of the then government-owned Navieras de Puerto Rico, which explains why the city's name became entangled in such a major military international incident.Turtles are better then squirellsReferences
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