Casillas de Camineros

Casillas de Camineros^[1] is the name in Spanish given to structures built every 6 kilometers during the latter part of the 19th century alongside the major roads built in Puerto Rico and provided as residences to the camineros, specially-trained government workers charged with providing maintenance to the surface of approximately six kilometers of a major road.

A former Casilla de Caminero on PR-14 (now Ave. Tito Castro) in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It was designed by Manuel Maese and built by Eduardo Armstrong in 1886.

These Casillas de Camineros were built along five major routes: (1) the Mayagüez-Añasco road, (2) the Mayagüez-San Germán road, (3) the Ponce-Adjuntas road, (4) the Ponce-San Juan road, and (5) the Bayamón-Toa Baja road.^[2] Forty-seven casillas were built, all by the Spanish government in Puerto Rico.^[3] The road with the largest number of casillas was the Ponce-San Juan road, then known as Carretera Central; it had 33 casillas. The casilla on Avenida Tito Castro in Ponce was designed by Manuel Maese and built by Eduardo Armstrong in 1886.^[4]

Abandoned in the latter part of the 20th century, the structures have faced different fates. Many of them have deteriorated or been demolished. Others have been put to other uses.^[5]

Gallery

• 
  Casilla # 10 during the Spanish-American War in 1898
• 
  Casilla with windows on all four sides
• 
  Casilla # 15 on PR-1 in Caguas
• 
  Casilla # 2 on PR-2 in Toa Baja

See also

• Casilla del Caminero (Mayagüez)

References

1. Luis F. Pumarada O'Neill (31 July 1994). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Historic Bridges of Puerto Rico". National Park Service. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
2. Las Casillas. Archived 17 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine José A. Mari Mut. edicionesdigitales.com 2009-2013. Accessed 1 April 2018.
3. Nuestras Casillas de Camineros. Archived 18 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine José A. Mari Mut. edicionesdigitales.com 2009-2013. Accessed 1 April 2018.
4. De San Juan a Ponce por la Carretera Central. Archived 30 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine} José A. Mari Mut. Copyright 2011-2013. p. 121. Accessed 8 February 2018.
5. Pumarada O'Neill, Luis; Castro Arroyo, María de los Ángeles (September 1997). La carretera central: un viaje escénico a la historia de Puerto Rico (PDF) (in Spanish). Oficina Estatal de Preservación Histórica de Puerto Rico. p. 6. ISBN 0965001121. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2022.

External links

• Media related to Road Workers Huts at Wikimedia Commons