Dorado () is a town and municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, west of San Juan and is located in the northern region of the island, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, north of Toa Alta, east of Vega Alta, and west of Toa Baja. Dorado is subdivided into five barrios and Dorado Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the San Juan–Bayamón–Caguas metropolitan area.
During the early 18th century, there were already mentions of a "Sitio de Dorado" in some San Juan registers. Since the beginning of the Spanish colonial period and until 1831, Dorado existed as a barrio (a type of sub-municipal ward) of the municipality of Toa Baja. Over several years, the ward grew and established its own town center called the "new town" (pueblo nuevo) to differentiate itself from Toa Baja, which became known as the "old town" (pueblo viejo). Over several years, the barrios that currently make up Dorado grew and the people of the pueblo nuevo wanted to separate themselves from Toa Baja. On November 22, 1842, Jacinto López Martínez, the Sergeant at Arms for the ward of Dorado, petitioned the Spanish Governor of Puerto Rico, Santiago Méndez Vigo, to establish the municipality of Dorado. The governor authorized the founding of the town pending the construction of public works, including an administrative building and a church near the town square. In 1848, the construction of the public works were completed and López Martínez became the first mayor of Dorado. 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 became a territory of the United States. In 1902, four years after the Spanish–American War, Dorado was again appended to Toa Baja. But in 1905 it regained its status as a separate town. Nowadays, Dorado has upscale neighborhoods and a small downtown area with a plaza (main town square), as other Puerto Rican municipalities. The town's patron saint is Anthony of Padua, and patron saint celebrations are held at the plaza every year on June 13.
History Pre-Columbian period and colonization The region adjacent to the Toa River (now called the La Plata River) was inhabited by several indigenous groups who left behind physical proof of their presence in the region. The area surrounding the Toa river was scouted by Juan Ponce de León during his initial reconnaissance of the geography of the main island. Near the river, the conquistadores built some huts in which to rest. However, citing "difficulties" with the region, the Spaniards opted to move to the region that would eventually become Caparra, the colonial Spanish capital of San Juan Bautista (the original Spanish name for Puerto Rico). During the beginning of the Spanish colonization, the area known as Toa was ruled by Taíno cacique Aramaná, who controlled the regions between Punta Salinas to the Cibuco River (modern day Toa Baja through Vega Baja). After Agüeybana I entered into association with the Spanish conquistadors through the guaytiao, Aramaná became known as Francisco de Aramaná, also being recognized as a Don. Now technically as politically influential as Agüeybana due to the ceremony, the Spanish were able to include the lower ranking caciques, including Aramaná, in the encomiendas system and placed several in charge of royal farms and mining operations near Toa River. The region proved production both in agriculture and mining and an assimilation process began between both cultures. Ponce de León himself created Hacienda del Rey and requested the creation of a new conuco near Toa River, which was later sold to Pedro Ortiz. The conquistador also built other properties that he later sold to other Spaniards. Around 500 Taínos worked under the caciques in the area.
Oral tradition claims that a Spaniard named Juan González somehow survived long enough after being severely injured in the initial Taíno offensive of the Spanish–Taíno War of San Juan–Borikén to reach the region of Toa and warn the conquistadores. Ten years after the beginning of the colonization, more than 17 estates were built in the region, with harvests being transported through the Toa River to Palo Seco and to the capital from there. After Ponce de León transferred Hacienda del Rey to other Spaniards, the estate steadily declined and by 1524, denunciations were made about its state. As more Spanish families settled, problems between neighbors arose, prompting Francisco de Negrete to request in 1611 that a mayor should be assigned to the region. However, it is not until 1731 that a mayor, Juan Dávila, appears in the records. During the following decades, more than 24 mayors would serve office, with military officers becoming prominent beginning in the 1740s.
Existence as part of Toa Baja On September 11, 1627, San Juan's council ordered the creation of a ship route between Bayamón and Toa, giving control of the rent to the council of the first city. From here, the rest of the route was traversed on horseback. On the way from the capital to the central north coast, two passages were encountered, the Palo Seco and the Boca Hababa river. After crossing the second, a rest area was built in modern-day barrio Mameyal. With an increase in traffic, the inhabitants of the town of Toa saw business opportunities and began joining the local fishermen, steadily creating a small settlement. By the first half of the 18th century, the locale was already known as "Dorado", "Boca del Dorado" or "Alto del Dorado" and referred to as such in official documentation. The municipality of Toa Baja was founded around 1745. Other sources place the foundation as taking place in 1747. With this development, the region became part of it. The Santa Hermandad mayor then became the municipal mayor. By 1748, the Settler Captain was George García Páes. In February 1761, there was a conflict between the overseer of the Boca Havana passage, Cayetano Quiñones, and the local fishermen in which the location became relevant. The control and lent of these passages remained in contention during the following century, with the San Juan council refereeing similar issues.
Towards the 18th century's end and entering the 19th century, the municipality had become a hub for sugar plantations led by Spanish hacendados and slavers, who exploited an international need for sugar caused by the Haitian revolution to export it and derivatives like rum while also meeting local demands. Other crops were also grown, but no priority was given to them. The end of the Napoleonic Wars and the elimination of some taxes allowed a new generation of hacendados from the capital of San Juan to benefit from the booming industry, among the mayors Jacinto López Martínez and José Canales. However, the roads that led to western Puerto Rico crossed through El Dorado and this, combined with flooding concerns, did not allow the municipality to develop a proper urban center, with Palo Seco being its main commerce epicenter. By 1820, Dorado itself was as big as the municipal town and the crisis lead to a proposal of relocating the municipal town there being presented to colonial governor Miguel de la Torre by hacendados with ties to him during a visit. On October 20, 1824, the move was authorized, but it stalled due to opposition from the settlers. However, this same year a hurricane named Santa Ana ravaged and flooded the municipal town, causing the death of people and cattle, accelerating the process. In the following years, the construction of a royal house and a church began at Dorado. During this time, Toa Baja's mayor, José María Ramírez de Arellano, requested a move of the boat access point near the entry of Dorado to a more accessible location, avoiding a dangerous body of waters in the process, a request which was later conceded by the council of San Juan. However, the free transit to Dorado for the neighbors of the municipal town of Toa Baja was attended afterwards, despite being part of the initial request. By 1829, the local militias and the justice offices were relocated as well. However, entering the following decades, the opponents of the move led by mayor José Manuel de Córdova forced the return of the municipal institutions and returned them to Toa Baja, claiming lack of proper maintenance. Despite this, Dorado continued growing as the traffic of people traversing through the royal road rose. By 1832, a teacher named José Viada was teaching the local children. The settlement eventually earned the name of Pueblo Nuevo to differentiate it from Toa Baja (Pueblo Viejo).
Secession disputes with Toa Baja With the plantations led by administrators, the flourish of the sugar industry continued until 1840, when the market entered in a crisis and the price of products crashed, leaving the region with a declining industry. In 1839, Palo Seco opted to become a separate municipality. On March 10, 1841, colonial governor Santiago de Méndez Vigo authorized moving all the administrative offices from Dorado to Toa Baja, faced by pressure from the settlers. Consequently, former mayor and hacendado Jacinto López Martínez, who had employed his friendship with de la Torre to acquire local terrains between 1813 and 1835, proposed creating a separate municipality by the name of El Dorado to secure his wealth by acquiring the title of Settlement Captain. In a reunion with friends and family, he formalized this request. The justification was based in the population growth in Dorado and adjacent barrios and possessing enough resources to sustain itself separately. In arrangements that took place on July 27, 1841, in San Juan, López was joined by José de Folgueras as prospective beneficiaries if the move and his proposal was supported by Manuel Canales, Celedonio Nevárez, Juan P. Nevárez, Domingo López, Andrés Martínez, Florencio Sánchez, José M. López, Ignacio Arrazaín and Ignacio Cordero, who offered to build the buildings necessary to sustain the town. The official request took place shortly afterwards, with the governor requesting feedback from the municipality of Toa Baja after being counseled to do so. After more than a month, the reply contained strong opposition to the separation, heavily criticizing the capacities of those involved in the request citing personal ambitions as a motive and claiming that the lands were unproductive, that the area was plagued with environmental factors that "resulted in the early death" of its residents and that the water was unclean. The rebuttal also claimed that the barrios pushing for separation were unable too poor to sustain the public workings of a town, despite being the ones that contributed most to the fisco up to this point, the purported lack of personnel and a workforce or that the proximity of the settlements would be unlawful. After being given copies of Toa Baja's opposition, López and Folgueras requested that the complaints were dismissed and questioned the accuracy of any of the counterarguments, also opting to criticize that some of the proponents were being targeted for being poor, which should not prevent them from entering association. The group also labelled Toa Baja as a failed municipality by using its own criteria, responding that the criticism for lack of a workforce was unfair since despite its age the town faced similar problems.