Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico.Ilia del Toro Robledo. Acta #203, dated 17 September 1823. In, Actas del Cabildo de Ponce, Puerto Rico: 1812-1823. Gobierno Municipal Autónomo de Ponce. Comisión Puertorriqueña para la Celebracion del Quinto Centenario del Descubrimiento de America y Puerto Rico, en Conmemoración del Encuentro de Dos Mundos. 1993. p.352 The most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publications/reporters have erroneously stated Ponce's date of founding as December 12, 1692 (see, for example, Jose Fernandez-Colon, The Associated Press, at "Noticias Online" on January 24, 2009, at Noticias Puerto Rico. Accessed 23 March 2019.) Another incorrect date sometimes found is September 12, 1692 (See, for example, Jorge L. Perez (El Nuevo Dia) and Jorge Figueroa (Ponce Municipal Historian), at Historic Buildings and Structures in Ponce, Puerto Rico., at the text accompanying Drawing #20, titled "Tumba de los Bomberos". Puerto Rico Historic Buildings Drawings Society. 2019. Accessed 4 February 2019. See also Mapa de Municipios y Barrios: Ponce, Memoria Numero 27. Gobierno del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. Junta de Planificación. Santurce, Puerto Rico. 1953. p. 6.). Miguel A Sanchez-Celada also points to the September 12, 1692 date based on the record that on that date the Spanish Crown officially recognized, via Royal Decree, the hamlet as a town (See Miguel A Sanchez-Celada. Evolución urbana de Ponce (Puerto_Rico) según la cartografía Histórica. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain. 2018. (DOI:http:..dx.doi.org/10.5944/etfvi.11.2018.20421) In, Espacio, Tiempo y Forma", Revista de la Facultad de Geografia e Historia, UNED. Serie VI. Geografía 11. 2018, pp. 219-245. ISSN 1130-2968. E-ISSN 2340-146x.) In this article the date reported is that given by the authorities closest to the founding date, and with their respective references.Salvador Brau. La fundación de Ponce: estudio retrospectivo que comprende desde los asomos de vecindad europea en las riberas del Portugués, al terminar el siglo XVI, hasta el incendio casi total del pueblo de Ponce en febrero de 1820. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Taller Tipográfico Comercial "La Democracia". 1909. p. 5. Reprinted at San Juan, Puerto Rico, at a later date. p. 4. (See Francisco Lluch Mora's Orígenes y Fundación de Ponce, Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2006, pp. 29, 33.)José Leandro Montalvo-Guenard. In, Luis Fortuño Janeiro. Album Histórico de Ponce: 1692-1963 (Section: "Algo Sobre Ponce y su Fundación".) Ponce, Puerto Rico: Imprenta Fortuño. 1963. p. 11.Mariano Vidal Armstrong. Ponce: Notas para su Historia. San Juan, PR: Comité Historia de los Pueblos. Second Edition. 1986. p. 17.Francisco Lluch Mora. Orígenes y Fundación de Ponce. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editorial Plaza Mayor. Segunda Edición. 2006. p. 33. and is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza,Mariano Vidal Armstrong. Estampas, Tradiciones y Leyendas de Ponce. (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. 1986.) Page 139. See also Calletano Coll y Toste and Salvador Brau's La fundación de Ponce: estudio retrospectivo que comprende desde los asomos de vecindad europea en las riberas del Portugués, al terminar el siglo XVI, hasta el incendio casi total del pueblo de Ponce en febrero de 1820. (Ponce, Puerto Rico: Tipografía Comercial "La Democracia". 1909.). the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León.Some historians state that the municipality was named after Juan Ponce de León himself. (Crediting Juan Ponce de León himself see, for example, Eduardo Neuman Gandia's Verdadera y Auténtica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. 1913.) Page 34, and Jose Luis Diaz de Villegas, https://books.google.com/books?id=ovzJlU1f-iAC&pg=PA46, and Sandra Torres Guzmán's Una hacienda atada a la historia citadina, https://www.periodicolaperla.com/una-hacienda-atada-a-la-historia-citadina/ .) Others state it was named after Juan Ponce de Leon y Loayza, the great-grandson of Juan Ponce de Leon. (Crediting the great-grandson see, for example, Encyclopedia Puerto Rico, ; J.A. Corretjer, http://www.yerbabruja.com/pueblos/ponce.html; Frommer, https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy_BSu4a2EYC&pg=PA185; and Harry S. Pariser, https://books.google.com/books?id=KawuqbFxLS0C&pg=PT239.) A few authorities state it may have been named after the Ponce de León family in general, covering father, son, grandson, and great-grandson (See, for example, Francisco Lluch Mora's "Orígenes y Fundación de Ponce, y otras noticias relativas a su desarrollo urbano, demográfico y cultural (siglos XVI-XIX)", Segunda Edición, Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2006, page 27.). Still others state it was founded by Juan Ponce de León y Loayza but named by him in the memory of his great-grandfather, the Spanish Conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce is often referred to as La Perla del Sur (The Pearl of the South), La Ciudad Señorial (The Manorial City), and La Ciudad de las Quenepas (Genip City).
The city serves as the governmental seatSylvester Baxter and Adrian C Finlayson. Recent Civic Architecture in Porto Rico. The Architectural Record. Vol 48. Issue 2. August 1920. p. 155. of the autonomous municipality as well as the regional hub for various government of Puerto Rico entities, such as the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. It is also the regional center for various U.S. federal government agencies. Ponce is a principal city of both the Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Ponce-Yauco-Coamo Combined Statistical Area with, as of the 2020 US Census, a population of 278,477 and 333,426 respectively.
The municipality of Ponce, officially the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, is located in the southern coastal plain region of the island, south of Adjuntas, Utuado, and Jayuya; east of Peñuelas; west of Juana Díaz; and bordered on the south by the Caribbean Sea. The municipality has 31 barrios, including 19 outside the city's urban area and 12 in the urban area of the city. It is the second largest in Puerto Rico by land area, and it was the first in Puerto Rico to obtain its autonomy, becoming the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce in 1992.
The historic Ponce Pueblo district, located in the downtown area of the city, is composed of several of the downtown barrios, and is located approximately three miles () inland from the Caribbean coast. The historic district is characterized by its Rococo,Island of Delights: Puerto Rico is a place of many pleasures: miles of Caribbean coastline, rugged mountains, cities and towns of irrestible charm. Mark Miller. National Geographic. Accessed 23 August 2022. Neoclásico Isabelino,Island of Delights: Puerto Rico is a place of many pleasures: miles of Caribbean coastline, rugged mountains, cities and towns of irrestible charm. Mark Miller. National Geographic. Accessed 23 August 2022. and Ponce Creole architectures, with the latter two styles originating in the city.
History
Early settlers The region of what is now Ponce belonged to the Taíno Guaynia region, which stretched along the southern coast of Puerto Rico."Maps of Native Boriken: A Map of the Chiefdoms and a Map of the Villages at Time of First Contact. Boriken Taino Island." World History Archives: Resources for the History of Native Boriken (Puerto Rico) Taino Map. Retrieved 22 November 2009. Agüeybaná, a cacique who led the region, was among those who greeted Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León when he came to the island in 1508. Archaeological findings have identified four sites within the municipality of Ponce with archaeological significance: Canas, Tibes, Caracoles, and El Bronce.Catalogo del Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes. Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo. Municipio Autónomo de Ponce. Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. April 2002. Page 13.
During the first years of the colonization, Spanish families started settling around the Jacaguas River, in the south of the island.Tourism Puerto Rico.com Retrieved 10 February 2010. For security reasons,Ponce: Nuestro Ponce. (In Spanish) Ponce Webcindario. Retrieved 14 February 2010. these families moved to the banks of the Rio Portugués, then called Baramaya.Ponce, Puerto Rico: Algunos Datos. (In Spanish) Areciboweb. Retrieved 14 February 2010.Nombre y Escudos de los Pueblos de Puerto Rico. (In Spanish) YerbaBruja. Retrieved 14 February 2010. Starting around 1646 the whole area from the Rio Portugués to the Bay of Guayanilla was called Ponce.Luis Fortuno Janeiro. Album Histórico de Ponce (1692–1963). Page 6. 1963. Imprenta Fortuno. Ponce, Puerto Rico.Ponce, Puerto Rico: Algunos Datos (In Spanish). Datos sobre Ponce. Retrieved 22 November 2009. In 1670, a small chapel was raised in the middle of the small settlement and dedicated in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.Spain in Puerto Rico: Early Settlements. By Doris Vazquez. The Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. 1986. Retrieved 22 November 2009. Among its earliest settlers were Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, and the Portuguese Don Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán, from nearby San Germán.Ponce, Puerto Rico: Algunos Datos (In Spanish) Portuguese Don Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán, Don Antonio Adab Rodriguez Berrios, and San Antón. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
On September 17, 1692, the King of Spain Carlos II issued a Cédula Real (Royal Permit) converting the chapel into a parish, and in so doing officially recognizing the small settlement as a hamlet. It is believed that Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, Juan Ponce de León's great-grandson, was instrumental in obtaining the royal permit to formalize the founding of the hamlet. Captains Enrique Salazar and Miguel del Toro were also instrumental.Register of Porto Rico. Page 196 Retrieved 28 March 2010. The city is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza,"Juan Ponce de Leon Biography" Travel Ponce. Retrieved 22 November 2009.Explore Puerto Rico.. By Harry S. Pariser. San Francisco: Manatee Press. Page 239. Retrieved 30 November 2009. the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León.Some historians believe the city was named after conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon himself. This includes Luis Fortuno Janeiro (see Luis Fortuno Janeiro, "Album Historico de Ponce (1692–1963)" (1963), page 12. Imprenta Fortuno. Ponce, Puerto Rico.). Others yet, believe it was named after the Juan Ponce de Leon family in general.
In the early 18th century Don Antonio Abad Rodriguez Berrios built a small chapel under the name of San Antonio Abad. The area would later receive the name of San Antón, a historically important part of modern Ponce.Portuguese Don Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán, Don Antonio Adab Rodríguez Berríos, and San Antón Retrieved 22 November 2009. In 1712 the village was chartered as El Poblado de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Ponce (The Village of Our Lady of Guadalupe of Ponce).Government of the Municipality of Ponce. Transportate > Walking Tour
19th-century immigrants