Guayama barrio-pueblo

Guayama barrio-pueblo is a barrio and the administrative center (seat) of Guayama, a municipality of Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 16,891.^[1][4][5][6]

Guayama barrio-pueblo Pueblo de Guayama
Municipality Seat[1]
City Hall in Guayama
Location of Guayama barrio-pueblo within the municipality of Guayama shown in red
Guayama barrio-pueblo Location of Puerto Rico
Coordinates: 17°58′36″N 66°06′51″W[2]
Commonwealth	Puerto Rico
Municipality	Guayama
Area [2]
• Total	2.47 sq mi (6.4 km2)
• Land	2.46 sq mi (6.4 km2)
• Water	0.01 sq mi (0.03 km2)
Elevation [3]	128 ft (39 m)
Population  (2010)
• Total	16,891
• Density	6,866.3/sq mi (2,651.1/km2)
	Source: 2010 Census
Time zone	UTC−4 (AST)
ZIP Code	00784

As was customary in Spain, in Puerto Rico, the municipality has a barrio called pueblo which contains a central plaza, the municipal buildings (city hall), and a Catholic church. Fiestas patronales (patron saint festivals) are held in the central plaza every year.^[7][8] The historic downtown area (pueblo) of Guayama was added to the Puerto Rico Register of Historic Sites and Zones (Spanish: Registro Nacional de Sitios y Zonas Históricas) in 1992.^[9]

Plaza Colón in Guayama barrio-pueblo

History

Guayama barrio-pueblo was in Spain's gazetteers^[10] until 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 an unincorporated territory of the United States. In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted a census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Guayama Pueblo was 5,334.^[11]

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1900	5,334		—
1910	8,321		56.0%
1920	8,924		7.2%
1930	10,953		22.7%
1940	16,913		54.4%
1950	19,408		14.8%
1960	19,183		−1.2%
1970	0		−100.0%
1980	18,488		—
1990	18,022		−2.5%
2000	17,111		−5.1%
2010	16,891		−1.3%
U.S. Decennial Census 1899 (shown as 1900)[12] 1910-1930[13] 1930-1950[14] 1980-2000[15] 2010[16]

The central plaza and its church

The central plaza (plaza de recreo) is a place for official and unofficial recreational events and a place where people can gather and socialize from dusk to dawn. The Laws of the Indies, Spanish law, which regulated life in Puerto Rico in the early 19th century, stated the plaza's purpose was for "parties" (celebrations, festivities, festivals) ("a propósito para las fiestas"), and that the square should be proportionally large enough for the number of neighbors ("grandeza proporcionada al número de vecinos"). These Spanish regulations also stated that nearby streets should be comfortable portals for passersby, protecting them from the elements: sun and rain.^[7]

The Guayama patron saint festival, in honor of Saint Anthony of Padua, is celebrated at the Plaza de recreo Cristóbal Colón in Guayama barrio-pueblo every June.

Located across from the central plaza in Guayama barrio-pueblo is Iglesia de San Antonio de Padua, or the Parroquia San Antonio de Padua (English: Anthony of Padua Parish), a Roman Catholic church. A hermitage built in the area was in ruins by 1823. The first church after that was inaugurated in 1872. Parts of the church were destroyed by the 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane. In the 1920s the church underwent reconstruction.^[17]

Gallery

• 
  Casa Cautiño - Historic place
• 
  Patron saint festival at the central plaza, June 2012
• 
  San Antonio de Padua Parish in Guayama
• 
  Plaza de recreo Cristóbal Colón
• 
  Teatro de Guayama

See also

• Puerto Rico portal

• List of communities in Puerto Rico

References

1. Puerto Rico: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts.pdf (PDF). U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau. 2010.
2. "US Gazetteer 2019". US Census. US Government.
3. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Guayama barrio-pueblo
4. Picó, Rafael; Buitrago de Santiago, Zayda; Berrios, Hector H. Nueva geografía de Puerto Rico: física, económica, y social, por Rafael Picó. Con la colaboración de Zayda Buitrago de Santiago y Héctor H. Berrios. San Juan Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de Puerto Rico,1969.
5. Gwillim Law (20 May 2015). Administrative Subdivisions of Countries: A Comprehensive World Reference, 1900 through 1998. McFarland. p. 300. ISBN 978-1-4766-0447-3. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
6. "US Census Barrio-Pueblo definition". factfinder.com. US Census. Archived from the original on 13 May 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
7. Santullano, Luis A. (10 March 2019). "La Plaza y la Calle". Mirada al Caribe. Vol. 54. Colegio de Mexico. pp. 75–78. doi:10.2307/j.ctvbcd2vs.12. JSTOR j.ctvbcd2vs.12.
8. Pariser, Harry S. (2003). Explore Puerto Rico, Fifth Edition. San Francisco: Manatee Press. pp. 52–55. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
9. GOBIERNO DE PUERTO RICO, JUNTA DE PLANIFICACIÓN DE PUERTO RICO (December 7, 2022). "REGISTRO DE PROPIEDADES DESIGNADAS POR LA JUNTA DE PLANIFICACIÓN DE PUERTO RICO" (PDF). jp.pr.gov.
10. "Anuario del comercio, de la industria, de la magistratura y de la administración. 1881". Biblioteca Nacional de España (in Spanish). p. 1614. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
11. Joseph Prentiss Sanger; Henry Gannett; Walter Francis Willcox (1900). Informe sobre el censo de Puerto Rico, 1899, United States. War Dept. Porto Rico Census Office (in Spanish). Imprenta del gobierno. p. 163.
12. "Report of the Census of Porto Rico 1899". War Department Office Director Census of Porto Rico. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
13. "Table 3-Population of Municipalities: 1930 1920 and 1910" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
14. "Table 4-Area and Population of Municipalities Urban and Rural: 1930 to 1950" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 30, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
15. "Table 2 Population and Housing Units: 1960 to 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 24, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
16. Puerto Rico: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts.pdf (PDF). U.S. Dept. of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration U.S. Census Bureau. 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
17. Mari Mut, José A. (2013-08-28). Los Pueblos de Puerto Rico y Las Iglesias de Sus Plazas [The Pueblos of Puerto Rico, and the Churches of its Plazas] (PDF) (in Spanish). pp. 30–32. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-12-14. Retrieved 2021-03-20.