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Mayaguez City Profile
There are seventy-five thousand, three hundred and fifty-six people living in Mayaguez, PR, among them fifty-one point eight seven percent males and forty-eight point one three percent females. A very nice place to work and chill out. The total number of households is twenty-six thousand, five hundred and eighty-four. Median income for a household is twelve thousand, forty-two dollars The city has several beautiful parks suitable for weddings, picnics and other large or small outdoor functions.
| Mayagüez, Puerto Rico | |||
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| Nickname: La Sultana del Oeste", "La Ciudad de las Aguas Puras", "El Pueblo del Mangó | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country | United States | ||
| Territory | Puerto Rico | ||
| Founded | July 19 1760 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | José Guillermo Rodríguez Rodríguez (PPD) | ||
| - Senatorial dist. | Mayagüez | ||
| - Representative dist. | 18 and 19 | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 274.1 sq mi (709.89 km²) | ||
| - Land | 77.6 sq mi (201.07 km²) | ||
| - Water | 196.5 sq mi (508.82 km²) | ||
| Population (2005) | |||
| - City | 98,434 | ||
| - Density | 1,268.1/sq mi (489.6/km²) | ||
| - Metro | 112,653 | ||
| - Gentilic | Mayagüezanos | ||
| Time zone | AST (UTC-4) | ||
| Anthem - "Mi patria es un oasis" | |||
| Website: http://www.mayaguezpr.gov | |||
- Mayagüez redirects here. For the US ship of the same name, see SS Mayagüez. For the 1975 US-Cambodia incident regarding the capture of the ship, see the Mayagüez incident.
Mayagüez (mah-yah-GWES) or [maɪaˈgwɛs] is the eighth-largest [1] municipality of Puerto Rico. Also known as "La Sultana del Oeste" (The Sultaness of the West) or "Ciudad de las Aguas Puras" (City of Pure Waters), the Spanish crown gave it the tittle of "La excelente ciudad de Mayaguez", Mayagüez is located in the center of the western coast on the island of Puerto Rico.
Its land area is 201.06 km² (78 sq mi) [2]. The municipio has an estimated population of just over 100,000 spread over 21 wards (barrios) including Mayagüez Pueblo (The downtown area and the administrative center of the city). One of the wards is Isla de Mona e Islote Monito, which consists of the offshore islands of Mona Island and Monito Island. This is the largest ward by land area, and at the same time the only one without any permanent population. Also, uninhabited Desecheo Island is part of the municipal, as part of Sabanetas barrio.
Mayagüez is located 2 hours by automobile from San Juan.
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[edit] History
Mayagüez was officially founded on September 18, 1760 by a group led by Faustino Martínez de Matos, Juan de Silva and Juan de Aponte, at a hill located about one kilometer inland from Mayagüez Bay and the outlet of the Yagüez River. 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 the Canary Islands, whose patron saint is the Virgin of Candlemas (Candelaria), hence the name.
On 7 May 1836, the settlement was elevated to the royal status of villa, and Rafael Mangual was named its first mayor. At the time, the villa's principal economic activity was agriculture. The famous patriot, educator, sociologist, philosopher, essayist, and novelist Eugenio María de Hostos was born in Mayagüez in 1839.
On 10 July 1877 the villa formally received its city charter from the Royal Crown of Spain.
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 architect Luis 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.
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 leading science and engineering institution.
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.
[edit] Geography
[edit] Barrios (Districts/Wards)
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The Pueblo barrio is further subdivided into subbarrios:
- Barcelona
- Candelaria
- Cárcel
- El Seco
- Marina Meridional
- Paris
- Balboa
- Rio
- Salud
- Tras Talleres
Other neighborhoods or sectors:
- El Mani - community of barrio Sabanetas
- Mayagüez Terrace - development in barrio Miradero
[edit] Culture
[edit] Contributions to Puerto Rican gastronomy
Mayagüez's contributions to Puerto Rican gastronomy have been many, and a few of these are known outside Puerto Rico. Besides being host to one of the largest concentrations of mango (spelled locally as "mangó") trees in the island, the city has been a host to various food enterprises whose products are popular in Puerto Rico (and some elsewhere):
- Brazo gitano - literally "gypsy arm", is the locally produced jelly roll, originally from Spain. E. Franco & Co., a bakery, food importer and restaurant established in the late 1850s, is the best-known provider of brazos gitanos in town. Another (more recent) provider is Ricomini Bakery, whose central store in downtown Mayagüez has been open for over 100 years.
- Sangría de Fido ['fEd-oh] - the heirs of Wilfrido Aponte still bottle "Sangría de Fido", a powerful concoction inspired on sangria, but actually made with fruit juices, Bacardi 151 rum and burgundy wine (technically not from Bourgogne, but produced by E & J Gallo Winery in Modesto, California). Originally bottled by hand by the bartender since the mid-1970s, "Sangría de Fido" has a sizeable reputation outside Puerto Rico, and can claim tasters from as far away as California and Spain. E & J Gallo once awarded Aponte with a "Customer of the Year" award and flew him to their headquarters. Aponte was reportedly offered $250,000 by Bacardi to sell his original recipe once, to which he refused.
- Bolo's Sorullitos - a now-defunct operation that originated at "Bolo's Restaurant", a seaside eatery next to Mayagüez Bay, which produced sorullitos, or fried cornsticks, along with mayo-ketchup, a dip made of mayonnaise, ketchup and garlic extract. The restaurant was extremely popular in Puerto Rico between the late 1970s and mid-1980s (its custom made building now houses WORA-TV, one of the local television stations). For a while the frozen cornsticks were sold commercially in stores.
- Flan-Es-Cedó' - Elmec Industries, Inc. has been the local flan producer for over thirty years
- India / Medalla beer - the only remaining mass-produced Puerto Rican beer is brewed by "Cervecería India", one of the largest employers in town. "Mayagüezanos" are queued into morning rush hour, lunch and afternoon rush hour by the company's whistle, which rings at 7:00 AM, 8:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM (all times AST)
- Rex Cream's Ice Cream - established in the mid-1960's by Chinese migrants who came to Puerto Rico by the way of Costa Rica, Rex Cream is a chain of ice cream parlors that had its heyday in the late 1970's. The two flagship stores in Mayagüez, however, are still popular (particularly on Good Friday, since one of the stores is the endpoint for a Good Friday religious procession) for producing alternative ice cream flavors, particularly a corn sherbet.
- Tuna fish - At one time, StarKist, Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee produced 80% of their collective production for consumption in the United States in Mayagüez. As of the time of writing, the only tuna fish cannery remaining in town is that for Bumble Bee.
A defunct cola bottling operation in town produced "Vita Cola", a popular soft drink in Puerto Rico between the late 1940s and early 1960s.
Mayagüez was a major rum producing city in Puerto Rico between the 1930s and 1970s. Several brands were produced by the city's three rum distillers. The most successful rum producing operation at the time was that of "José González Clemente y Co.", the bottlers of "Ron Superior Puerto Rico", an award-winning dark rum that was bottled between 1909 and the late 1970s.
- See also: List of Puerto Rican rums
[edit] Festivals and events
- Three Kings Festival - January
- Black and White Festival - January
- Danza National Festival - February
- Matron Celebrations - February
- Mayagüez Carnival - May
- Seco Festival/El Festival de la Cocolia - July
- Mango Festival - August
- Artisan Fair - November
- Christmas Festivities - December
[edit] Sports
Mayagüez will host the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games for which the local and commonwealth governments have provided an investment of $250 million for, among other things, building a new stadium (which will be built at the site of the existing Isidoro García Baseball Stadium)
Mayagüez's National Superior Basketball League (BSN) professional basketball team, the Indios de Mayagüez, are named in honor of the city's Indian heritage. Its baseball winter league team (LBPPR), the Indios de Mayagüez, honor both their Indian heritage and the home town's Cervecería India brewery.