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106-609: The Ponce High School is public educational institution in Ponce, Puerto Rico , offering grades nine through twelve. The school's main building is a historic structure located on Cristina Street, in the Ponce Historic Zone . From its beginning the school has secured a unique place in Puerto Rico's educational history. Of over 3,000 schools erected in Puerto Rico in the first quarter of the twentieth century, Ponce High

212-441: 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. The city is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza,

318-424: A tropical savanna climate ( Koppen Aw/As ). Ponce has summer highs averaging 92 °F (33 °C) and winter highs, 87 °F (31 °C). It has lows averaging 67 °F (19 °C) in the winter and 74 °F (23 °C) in the summer. It has a record high of 100 °F (38 °C), which occurred on 21 August 2003, and a record low of 51 °F (11 °C) which occurred on 28 February 2004, tying

424-498: A U-shaped wood mezzanine supported from the concrete ceiling. Its original lighting fixtures were removed and replaced by fluorescent ones. Classrooms are well lit and ventilated; there are many openings. Walls are plain, having been painted over and over throughout the years. The original wood floor finish is still retained in the library, the auditorium, and many of the classrooms; some have been substituted or changed to concrete. Hallways and stairs are paved in concrete. Vinyl flooring

530-702: A bloody event when the Insular Police, a force somewhat resembling the National Guard of the typical U.S. state and which answered to U.S.-appointed governor Blanton Winship , opened fire on unarmed and defenseless members of the Cadets of the Republic and bystanders. When the shooting stopped, nineteen civilians had been killed or mortally wounded. Over two hundred others were badly wounded. Many were shot in their backs while running away, including

636-456: A great number of exquisite residences that reflected the high standing of its bourgeoisie. On July 27, American troops, aboard the Cincinnati , Dixie , Wasp , and Gloucester , disembarked at Playa de Ponce. General Nelson Miles arrived the next day with reinforcements from Guánica and took possession of the city. There were some minor skirmishes in the city, but no major battle

742-536: A hub of political activity on the island, and is the founding site of several major political parties. It has also been the birthplace of several important political figures of the island, including Luis A. Ferré and Rafael Hernández Colón , both former governors of Puerto Rico , as well as the childhood town of governor Roberto Sanchez Vilella . Statistics taken from the 2010 census show that 82.0% of Ponceños are white and 9.0% are African-American , with Taínos , Asians , people of mixed race and others making up

848-582: A large scale on the Island. Strikingly significant is the fact that with the choice of building vocabulary (strongly reminiscent of Mc Kim, Mead & White's Pennsylvania Station in New York) the use of the neoclassical style for educational structures was introduced in Puerto Rico. Ponce High School is today one of the most dignified and imposing structures in the city, a fact underlined by its architectural style, scale and overall architectural merits. So far,

954-425: A major downturn. Sugar cane had until 1976 been grown and refined at Ponce's Central Mercedita , but in that year agricultural production of sugar cane was halted in the lands of the municipality of Ponce and adjacent towns. Also, the headquarters of Banco de Ponce and Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño were moved to San Juan. Unemployment of Ponce jumped to 25% as a result of these changes. On October 7, 1985, Ponce

1060-652: A mixture of Art Nouveau and neoclassic styles to give the city a unique look. This can be seen in the various structures located in the center of the city like the Teatro La Perla . To showcase its rich architectural heritage, the city has opened the Museum of Puerto Rican Architecture at the Wiechers-Villaronga residence. Many of the city's features (from house façades to chamfered street corners) are modeled on Barcelona 's architecture, given

1166-597: A mob. They harshly criticized Winship's actions as governor and said he had numerous abuses of civil rights. The event has since been known as the Ponce massacre . It was the largest massacre in Puerto Rican history. As a result of this report and other charges against Winship, he was dismissed from his position in 1937 and replaced as governor. The history of this event can be viewed at the Ponce Massacre Museum on Marina Street. An open-air park in

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1272-592: A new community built on stable ground. In 2005, the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction of the United States reported that the Mameyes landslide held the record for having inflicted "the greatest loss of life by a single landslide" up to that year. The municipality of Ponce became the first in Puerto Rico to obtain its autonomy on October 27, 1992, under

1378-493: A new law ( The Autonomous Municipalities Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ) enacted by the Puerto Rican legislature. Ponce's mayor for 15 years, Rafael Cordero Santiago ("Churumba"), credited for leading the municipal government to that accomplishment, died in office on the morning of January 17, 2004, after suffering three consecutive strokes. Vice-mayor Delis Castillo Rivera de Santiago finished his term. Cordero

1484-557: 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

1590-680: A ring. Crown moldings soften transitions between frieze and cornice and emphasize the upper edge of the abacus , which is the upper part of the capital. Roman Doric columns also have moldings at their bases and stand on low square pads or are even raised on plinths . In the Roman Doric mode, columns are not usually fluted; indeed, fluting is rare. Since the Romans did not insist on a triglyph covered corner, now both columns and triglyphs could be arranged equidistantly again and centered together. The architrave corner needed to be left "blank", which

1696-484: A seven-year-old girl named Georgina Maldonado who was "killed through the back while running to a nearby church." The US commissioned an independent investigation headed by Arthur Garfield Hays, general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union , together with prominent citizens of Puerto Rico. The members concluded in their report that the event was a massacre, with the police acting as

1802-419: A surface area of 116.0 square miles (300 km ). The main physiographic features of the municipality of Ponce are: (1) the mountainous interior containing the headwaters of the main river systems, (2) an upper plain, (3) a range of predominantly east-west trending limestone hills, (4) a coastal plain, and (5) a coastal flat. The northern two-thirds of the municipality consists of the mountainous interior, with

1908-549: A triglyph form the corner, and filled it with a half ( demi -) metope, allowing triglyphs centered over columns ( illustration, right, V. ). There are many theories as to the origins of the Doric order in temples. The term Doric is believed to have originated from the Greek-speaking Dorian tribes. One belief is that the Doric order is the result of early wood prototypes of previous temples. With no hard proof and

2014-507: Is Puerto Rico's fourth highest peak. Nineteen barrios comprise the rural areas of the municipality, and the topology of their lands varies from flatlands to hills to steep mountain slopes. The hilly barrios of the municipality (moving clockwise around the outskirts of the city) are these seven: Quebrada Limón , Marueño , Magueyes , Tibes , Portugués Rural , Machuelo Arriba , and Cerrillos . The barrios of Canas , Coto Laurel , Capitanejo , Sabanetas , Vayas , and Bucaná also surround

2120-594: Is a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico . The most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692 and is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza , the great-grandson of 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

2226-750: Is called the historic district. There is a seismic detector that the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, has placed in Barrio Cerrillos. Elevations include Cerro de Punta at 4,390 feet (1,340 m), the highest in Puerto Rico, located in Barrio Anón in the territory of the municipality of Ponce. Mount Jayuya, at 4,314 feet (1,315 m) is located on the boundary between Barrio Anón and Barrio Saliente in Jayuya. Cerro Maravilla , at nearly 3,970 feet (1,210 m) above sea level,

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2332-449: Is illustrated at Vitruvian module . According to Vitruvius, the height of Doric columns is six or seven times the diameter at the base. This gives the Doric columns a shorter, thicker look than Ionic columns, which have 8:1 proportions. It is suggested that these proportions give the Doric columns a masculine appearance, whereas the more slender Ionic columns appear to represent a more feminine look. This sense of masculinity and femininity

2438-710: Is known as the "Fuego del Polvorín" (the Fire of the Ammunition Depot). At that time the lot was used as a U.S. Army ammunition depot. Today a register marks the location of the fire. In November 1899, the new American government authorized the establishment of a public secondary school in Ponce modeled after the American school system. In 1903 the Roosevelt Industrial School was built on land where

2544-617: Is located to the east of Barrio Anón. There are many other mountains at lower elevations in the municipality, such as the Montes Llanos ridge and Mount Diablo, at 2,231 feet (680 m) and Mount Marueño, at 2,100 feet (640 m), and Pinto Peak, among others. Part of the Toro Negro Forest is located in Barrio Anón. Coastal promontories include Cuchara, Peñoncillo, Carnero, and Cabullón points. Fifty-six percent of

2650-681: Is sometimes referred to as a half, or demi- , metope ( illustration, V. , in Spacing the Columns above ). The Roman architect Vitruvius , following contemporary practice, outlined in his treatise the procedure for laying out constructions based on a module, which he took to be one half a column's diameter, taken at the base. An illustration of Andrea Palladio 's Doric order, as it was laid out, with modules identified, by Isaac Ware, in The Four Books of Palladio's Architecture (London, 1738)

2756-464: Is used at offices. Glazed concrete tile is found at the lobby, where the original iron grilles, of geometrical design, are still in use. Two small lean-to wood and zinc structures were added a few years ago. The auditorium was adapted to air conditioning features, with acoustic ceiling and related fixtures having been added. In spite of it all, and probably, because of the school's imposing scale, well balanced proportions and well-kept classical detailing,

2862-578: Is very wide in early versions, but later more restrained. Above a plain architrave , the complexity comes in the frieze , where the two features originally unique to the Doric, the triglyph and gutta , are skeuomorphic memories of the beams and retaining pegs of the wooden constructions that preceded stone Doric temples. In stone they are purely ornamental . The relatively uncommon Roman and Renaissance Doric retained these, and often introduced thin layers of moulding or further ornament, as well as often using plain columns. More often they used versions of

2968-430: Is within these original six core city barrios. These eleven barrios composed what is known as the urban zone of the municipality. The remaining eight barrios ( Magueyes , Tibes , Montes Llanos , Maragüez , Portugués , Machuelo Arriba , Cerrillos , Sabanetas ) are located in the interior of the municipality. These last eight are outside the city limits and are neither coastal nor bordering barrios. A summary of all

3074-665: The La Guancha and El Tuque beaches. There is also a beach at Caja de Muertos Island . Lake Cerrillos is located within the limits of the municipality, as will be the future lake resulting from the Portugués Dam . The Cerrillos State Forest is also located in the municipality of Ponce. Coastal geographic features in Ponce include Bahía de Ponce , Caleta de Cabullones (Cabullones Cove), and five cays: Jueyes , Ratones , Cardona , Gatas , and Isla del Frio . Caja de Muertos Island and Morrillito islet are located at

3180-521: The Museo de la Historia de Ponce , which opened in the city in 1992. It depicts the history of the city from its early settlement days until the end of the 20th century. On September 20, 2017 Hurricane Maria struck the island of Puerto Rico. In Ponce, $ 1,000 million in damages were the initial estimates. An estimated 3,500 homes were completely or partially destroyed. The hurricane triggered numerous landslides in Ponce. The Municipality of Ponce sits on

3286-583: The Ponce Cement , Puerto Rico Iron Works , Vassallo Industries , and Destilería Serrallés . El Dia was also founded in Ponce in 1911. On March 21, 1937, a peaceful march was organized by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party to celebrate the 64th anniversary of the abolition of slavery and protest the incarceration of their leader, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos , in a federal prison on charges of sedition . The march turned into

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3392-605: The Royal Hospital Chelsea (1682 onwards, by Christopher Wren ). The first engraved illustrations of the Greek Doric order dated to the mid-18th century. Its appearance in the new phase of Classicism brought with it new connotations of high-minded primitive simplicity, seriousness of purpose, noble sobriety. In Germany it suggested a contrast with the French, and in the United States republican virtues. In

3498-626: The Spanish–American War , Ponce was the largest city in the island with a population of 22,000. Ponce had the best road in Puerto Rico, running from Ponce to San Juan , which had been built by the Spaniards for military purposes. The taking of Ponce by American troops "was a critical turning point in the Puerto Rican campaign. For the first time the Americans held a major port to funnel large numbers of men and quantities of war material into

3604-570: The Tuscan order , elaborated for nationalistic reasons by Italian Renaissance writers, which is in effect a simplified Doric, with un-fluted columns and a simpler entablature with no triglyphs or guttae. The Doric order was much used in Greek Revival architecture from the 18th century onwards; often earlier Greek versions were used, with wider columns and no bases to them. The ancient architect and architectural historian Vitruvius associates

3710-423: The neoclassical architectural style. The front entry consists of a raised portico and a lobby area. The school library is located on the first floor and the auditorium is on the second floor. At both Eastern and Western sides of the lobby, and at both levels, L-shaped arcaded hallways lead to the classrooms. Two semi-enclosed patios are thus defined between the library-auditorium wing (much higher and wider) and

3816-524: The Caribbean coast. The historic district is characterized for its Art Deco , Neoclásico Isabelino and Ponce Creole architectures . The region of what is now Ponce belonged to the Taíno Guaynia region, which stretched along the southern coast of Puerto Rico. Agüeybaná , a cacique who led the region, was among those who greeted Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León when he came to

3922-656: The Caribbean sea at Ponce Playa ward. The Matilde River, also known as the Pastillo River, runs for 12 mi (19 km); its tributaries are the Cañas River and the Limón and del Agua brooks. Lakes in Ponce include Bronce and Ponceña as well as lakes bearing numbers: Uno, Dos, Tres, and Cinco; and the Salinas Lagoon, which is considered a restricted lagoon. Other water bodies are the springs at Quintana and

4028-465: The Delians reassigned the temple to the island of Poros . It is "hexastyle", with six columns across the pedimented end and thirteen along each long face. All the columns are centered under a triglyph in the frieze , except for the corner columns. The plain, unfluted shafts on the columns stand directly on the platform (the stylobate ), without bases. The recessed "necking" in the nature of fluting at

4134-552: The Doric with masculine proportions (the Ionic representing the feminine). It is also normally the cheapest of the orders to use. When the three orders are superposed , it is usual for the Doric to be at the bottom, with the Ionic and then the Corinthian above, and the Doric, as "strongest", is often used on the ground floor below another order in the storey above. In their original Greek version, Doric columns stood directly on

4240-458: The E-shaped structure constitutes the front facade ; it is articulated to best reflect and express the internal organization in plan. Sophisticated neoclassical details, although integral to the building's public "face", are not used with such insistence anywhere else on the building, except for the lobby, which includes some mouldings, cornices and relatively simple pilaster inlays. Set back from

4346-537: The Parthenon. Pronounced features of both Greek and Roman versions of the Doric order are the alternating triglyphs and metopes . The triglyphs are decoratively grooved with two vertical grooves ("tri-glyph") and represent the original wooden end-beams, which rest on the plain architrave that occupies the lower half of the entablature. Under each triglyph are peglike "stagons" or "guttae" (literally: drops) that appear as if they were hammered in from below to stabilize

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4452-646: The Southern Coastal Plain region of the Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Caribbean Sea. It is bordered by the municipalities of Adjuntas, Utuado, Jayuya, Peñuelas, and Juana Díaz. Ponce is a large municipality, with only Arecibo larger in land area in Puerto Rico. In terms of physical features, the municipality occupies a roughly rectangular area in south-central portion of the Island of approximately 10 miles (16 km) wide (east-to-west) by 13 miles (21 km) long (north-to-south). It has

4558-748: The U.S. Census Bureau provides detailed demographics statistics for each of Ponce's barrios. The 2000 Census showed that Montes Llanos is the least populated barrio in the municipality. Thanks to its larger area, barrio Canas was by far the most populated ward of the municipality. At 68 persons per square mile, San Patricio was the least populated, while Cuarto was the most densely populated at 18,819 persons per square mile. Ponce has nine barrios that border neighboring municipalities. These are Canas , Quebrada Limón , Marueño , Guaraguao , San Patricio , Anón , Real , Coto Laurel , and Capitanejo . Canas and Capitanejo are also coastal barrios, and together with three others ( Playa , Bucaná , and Vayas ) make up

4664-562: The US military had its munitions depot that caused the fire. Five years after El Polvorin , in the 1904-1905 timeframe, a two-story building with 12 classrooms was built to accommodate the Ruiz Gandia Grammar School in the same spacious El Polvorin lot. The first class of Ponce High School students formed in 1902. As new facilities were completed, the students were moved to them. For the 1907-1908 school year another building

4770-432: The architect. Often the last two columns were set slightly closer together ( corner contraction ), to give a subtle visual strengthening to the corners. That is called the "classic" solution of the corner conflict ( IV. ). Triglyphs could be arranged in a harmonic manner again, and the corner was terminated with a triglyph, though the final triglyph and column were often not centered. Roman aesthetics did not demand that

4876-413: The barrios of the municipality, their population, population density, and land and water areas as given by the U.S. Census Bureau is as follows: Doric order The Greek Doric column was fluted , and had no base, dropping straight into the stylobate or platform on which the temple or other building stood. The capital was a simple circular form, with some mouldings, under a square cushion that

4982-422: The boundary between Ponce and Juana Díaz. There is a mangrove covering an area of approximately 100 acres (40 ha) at Cabullón promontory and Isla del Frio. The Salinas Lagoon, part of Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas , has a mangrove that expands about 37 acres (15 ha). The lagoon itself consists of 698 cuerdas (678 acres; 274 ha). The Rita cave is located in Barrio Cerrillos. Ponce features

5088-477: The capital, neglecting the south and thus starting a period of socio- economic stagnation for Ponce. This was worsened by several factors: At least one author has also blamed the stagnation on "the strife between the U.S. and the local Nationalist Party ." The 20th century financial stagnation prompted residents to initiate measures to attract economic activity back into the city. Also, a solid manufacturing industry surged that still remains. Examples of this are

5194-416: The city of Ponce is the second largest in Puerto Rico outside of the San Juan metropolitan area. Its nicknames include: La Perla del Sur (The Pearl of the South) and La Ciudad Señorial (The Noble or Lordly City). The city is also known as La Ciudad de las Quenepas ( Genip City), from the abundant amount of this fruit that grows within its borders. The complete history of Ponce can be appreciated at

5300-714: The city's strong Catalan heritage. In 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Ponce Historic Zone as one of America's most endangered historic places. With 31 barrios , Ponce is Puerto Rico's municipality with the largest number of barrios. Ponce's barrios consist of 12 located in the urban area of the city plus 19 outside the urban zone. Of these nineteen, seven were considered suburban in 1999. The suburban barrios were: Canas , Magueyes , Portugués , Machuelo Arriba , Sabanetas , Coto Laurel , and Cerrillos . A 2000 report by

5406-661: The city, the Pedro Albizu Campos Park , is dedicated to the memory of the president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. As a result of this event, Ponce has been identified as "the birthplace of Puerto Rican national identity." Ponce history in general is expressed at the Ponce History Museum , on the block bordered by Isabel, Mayor, Cristina, and Salud streets in the historic downtown area. Ponce has continued to be

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5512-409: The corner triglyph should form the corner of the entablature, creating an inharmonious mismatch with the supporting column. The architecture followed rules of harmony. Since the original design probably came from wooden temples and the triglyphs were real heads of wooden beams, every column had to bear a beam which lay across the centre of the column. Triglyphs were arranged regularly; the last triglyph

5618-410: The early 19th century, Ponce continued to be one of dozens of hamlets that dotted the Island. Its inhabitants survived by subsistence agriculture , cattle raising , and maritime contraband with foreigners. Mayor José Benítez categorized the jurisdiction into cotos , hatos , criaderos , monterías , and terrenos realengos . Cotos were lands awarded to residents as reward for their services to

5724-579: The east by Trujillo street. Its location is only two blocks from Plaza Las Delicias . It is also diagonally across from the Ponce Free School of Music , the old location of Liceo de Ponce ( Liceo Ponceño ), an early 20th-century girls-only school. It is also one block from Teatro La Perla . The main and most historical of the buildings faces north. In the back of this building is a large yard paved with concrete. This backyard contains several other large school buildings. The main building follows

5830-669: The electric grid of the city of Ponce was inaugurated on the first day of the Ponce Fair. In this occasion the Plaza Las Delicias and various other buildings, including the Mercantile Union Building, the Ponce Casino , and some of Ponce's homes were illuminated with the incandescent light bulb for the first time". At the time of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Puerto Rico in 1898 during

5936-410: The elements, therefore underlining the horizontal continuity of the structure. Fenestration consists mainly of wood louvered windows with glass. Some have been substituted by contemporary metal louvered windows, which are found all over the rest of the building. A most significant feature of Ponce High School is its two-story high, elongated auditorium, which also contains a generous stage area and

6042-401: The flat pavement (the stylobate ) of a temple without a base. With a height only four to eight times their diameter, the columns were the most squat of all the classical orders; their vertical shafts were fluted with 20 parallel concave grooves , each rising to a sharp edge called an arris . They were topped by a smooth capital that flared from the column to meet a square abacus at

6148-462: The formation of a Puerto Rican theatrical tradition. The auditorium at Ponce High molded those beginnings. In conclusion, the architecture of Ponce High stands out among the Island's built legacy for historic, stylistic, conceptual and symbolic reasons. Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( US : / ˈ p ɔː n s eɪ , ˈ p oʊ n -/ PAWN -say, POHN - , UK : / ˈ p ɒ n -/ PON - , Spanish: [ˈponse] )

6254-660: The governmental seat of the autonomous municipality as well as the regional hub for various Government of Puerto Rico entities, such as the Judiciary 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,

6360-432: The great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. 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. 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). In

6466-469: The identical classroom wings facing East and West. Three sets of stairs are symmetrically laid out in the scheme: one of secondary importance at either side of the lobby; the most public one next to side entrances at the L-shaped circulation wings. A third set of stairs faces the patios and is the only one not to connect to the building's basement where more classrooms are found. The most continuous side of

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6572-658: The importing of industrial machinery, iron foundries and other enterprises. At the time of the American invasion of the Island in 1898, Ponce was a thriving city, boasting the Island's main financial center, the Island's first communications link to another country, the best capitalized financial institutions, and even its own currency. It had consular offices for England, Germany, the Netherlands, and other nations. Following trends set in Europe and elsewhere, in 1877, Don Miguel Rosich conceived an exposition for Ponce. This

6678-515: The inspiration for the Doric came from Mycenae. At the ruins of this civilization lies architecture very similar to the Doric order. It is also in Greece, which would make it very accessible. Some of the earliest examples of the Doric order come from the 7th-century BC. These examples include the Temple of Apollo at Corinth and the Temple of Zeus at Nemea . Other examples of the Doric order include

6784-549: The integrity has not yet been lost. Ponce High School is one of the five best school buildings built in Puerto Rico at the beginning of the 20th century and one of the most impressive. Between 1900 and 1925 over 3,000 schools were erected on the Island; only four included fully equipped auditoriums (not just assembly rooms) in their design: San Juan's Central High, Luis Muñoz Rivera School in Salinas, Arecibo's own Luis Muñoz Rivera School and Ponce High School. In that sense, these are

6890-612: The intersection with the horizontal beam ( architrave ) that they carried. The Parthenon has the Doric design columns. It was most popular in the Archaic Period (750–480 BC) in mainland Greece, and also found in Magna Graecia (southern Italy), as in the three temples at Paestum . These are in the Archaic Doric, where the capitals spread wide from the column compared to later Classical forms, as exemplified in

6996-579: The island in 1508. Archaeological findings have identified four sites within the municipality of Ponce with archaeological significance: Canas , Tibes , Caracoles , and El Bronce . During the first years of the colonization , Spanish families started settling around the Jacaguas River , in the south of the island. For security reasons, these families moved to the banks of the Rio Portugués , then called Baramaya. Starting around 1646

7102-511: The island." Ponce also had underwater telegraph cable connections with Jamaica and the West Indies , putting the U.S. forces on the island in direct communication with Washington, D.C. , for the first time since the beginning of the campaign. Just prior to the United States occupation of the island, Ponce was a flourishing and dynamic city with a significant number of public facilities, a large number of industries and commercial firms, and

7208-544: The king. They were developed into estancias or lands apt to be cultivated for agricultural use. Hatos were lands not granted to anyone in particular, but available for communal use where cattle could roam at will. Monterías were hilly areas located next to hatos were cattle could be reigned in or gathered together with the help of trained dogs. Criaderos were lands were cows could be herded for milk production. Goats, sheep, pigs, asses, and mares were also herded in criaderos . Terrenos realengos were lands that belonged to

7314-519: The largest temple in classical Athens , is also in the Doric order, although the sculptural enrichment is more familiar in the Ionic order: the Greeks were never as doctrinaire in the use of the Classical vocabulary as Renaissance theorists or Neoclassical architects. The detail, part of the basic vocabulary of trained architects from the later 18th century onwards, shows how the width of the metopes

7420-434: The last triglyph was not centered with the corresponding column. That "archaic" manner was not regarded as a harmonious design. The resulting problem is called the doric corner conflict . Another approach was to apply a broader corner triglyph ( III. ) but was not really satisfying. Because the metopes are somewhat flexible in their proportions, the modular space between columns ("intercolumniation") can be adjusted by

7526-547: The most representative examples of school building ideas being developed at the time in the United States by architects of renown, such as Haussander and Perkins of Chicago, Snyder of New York, Cooper of Boston and, especially, William B. Ittner of St. Louis. Given the date of erection (earlier than for most other public schools built on the Island) Ponce High School emerges, as one of the earlier American government-sponsored construction efforts at such

7632-427: The municipality consists of slopes 10 degrees or greater. The 14 rivers comprising the hydrographic system of Ponce are Matilde , Inabón , Bucaná , Jacaguas , Portugués , Cañas , Pastillo , Cerrillos , Chiquito , Bayagan , Blanco , Prieto , Anón and San Patricio The Jacaguas River runs for a brief stretch on the southeast area of the municipality. The Inabón River springs from Anón ward and runs through

7738-807: The municipality for some 18 mi (29.0 km); the tributaries of the Inabón are the Anón and Guayo rivers and the Emajagua Brook. The Bucaná River springs from Machuelo Arriba ward and runs for 18.5 mi (29.8 km) into the Caribbean Sea. The tributaries of the Bucaná are the San Patricio, Bayagán , and Prieto Rivers and Ausubo brook. The Portugués River springs from the ward of that name in Adjuntas, and runs for 17.3 mi (27.8 km) into

7844-401: The municipality's five coastal barrios. There are also five barrios within the city limits ( Canas Urbano , Machuelo Abajo , Magueyes Urbano , Portugués Urbano , and San Antón ) that in addition to the original six city core barrios — named Primero , Segundo , Tercero , Cuarto , Quinto , and Sexto — make up the 11 urban zone barrios of the municipality. The historic zone of the city

7950-495: The name of the architect for Ponce High School remains a mystery, although many facts point to Adrian C. Finlayson as its designer. Mr. Finlayson was, at the time, architect of the Insular Government's Interior Department, and was responsible for many other structures of similar use, size and style. As such, he is a key figure on Puerto Rico's architectural development. Most historians, however, coincide that Finlayson

8056-475: The offices of Ponce's island-wide El Dia newspaper that he owned, as well as the headquarters of his Empresas Ferré , to San Juan. In 1976, CORCO —southern Puerto Rico's main source of economic vitality—shut down its industrial operations in Guayanilla leaving thousands of area residents without work; its impact on indirect sources of employment was even greater. Also, the sugar cane industry, also suffered

8162-460: The only diamond-level DECA chapter in Puerto Rico. The Ponce High School building is "among the most important public buildings ever built in Puerto Rico." The school is the oldest continuously-operating high school in Puerto Rico. The history of the institution dates back to January 1899. On 25 January 1899 a historic fire took place on the lot currently occupied by the High School. The fire

8268-502: The outskirts of the city but these are mostly flat. The remaining six other barrios are further away from the city and their topology is rugged mountain terrain. These are (clockwise): Guaraguao , San Patricio , Monte Llano , Maragüez , Anón , and Real . The ruggedness of these barrios is because through these areas of the municipality runs the Central Mountain Range of the Island. The remaining barrios are part of

8374-419: The post-and-beam ( trabeated ) construction. They also served to "organize" rainwater runoff from above. The spaces between the triglyphs are the "metopes". They may be left plain, or they may be carved in low relief. The spacing of the triglyphs caused problems which took some time to resolve. A triglyph is centered above every column, with another (or sometimes two) between columns, though the Greeks felt that

8480-508: The record low of 51 °F (11 °C) from 25 January 1993. The mean annual temperature in the municipality is 79 °F (26 °C). During the 19th century, the city was witness to a flourishing architectural development, including the birth of a new architectural style later dubbed Ponce Creole . Architects like Francisco Valls, Manuel Víctor Domenech , Eduardo Salich, Blas Silva Boucher , Agustín Camilo González, Alfredo Wiechers, Francisco Porrata Doria and Francisco Gardón Vega used

8586-506: The regional hub for various commonwealth entities. For example, it serves as the southern hub for the Judiciary of Puerto Rico. It is also the regional center for various other commonwealth and federal government agencies. Ponce has improved its economy in the last years. In recent years, Ponce has solidified its position as the second most important city of Puerto Rico based on its economic progress and increasing population. Today,

8692-490: The rest. The 1970s brought significant commercial, industrial and banking changes to Ponce that dramatically altered its financial stability and outlook of the city, the municipality and, to an extent, the entire southern Puerto Rico region. After Luis A. Ferre concluded his term as governor of Puerto Rico on January 1, 1973, he closed the Puerto Rico Iron Works foundry on Avenida Hostos , and transferred

8798-477: The rest. At 82.0% vs. 76.2% for the island as a whole, Ponce has the highest concentration of white population of any municipality in Puerto Rico. However, the US Census Bureau changed the definitions of its racial makeup categories for the 2020 Census resulting in 19.0% of Ponceños being classified as white and 13.3% as Black/Afro Puerto Rican' , 0.3% as Asian , and people of mixed race making up

8904-573: The revolutions and disruption of societies as nations gained independence from Spain in the 1810s-1820s. Third, the Spanish Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 attracted numerous European immigrants to Puerto Rico. It encouraged any citizen of a country politically friendly to Spain to settle in Puerto Rico as long as they converted to the Catholic faith and agreed to work in the agricultural business. With such mass migrations, not only

9010-503: The size of the town was changed, but the character of its population was changed as well. Europeans, including many Protestants , immigrated from a variety of nations. On July 29, 1848, and as a result of this explosive growth, the Ponce hamlet was declared a villa (village) by Queen Isabella II , and in 1877 the village obtained its city charter. Some of these immigrants made considerable fortunes in coffee , corn and sugarcane harvesting, rum production, banking and finance ,

9116-455: The southern side of the central mountain range and the Cayey mountain range. The central area of the municipality is part of the semi-arid southern hills. These two regions are classified as being the driest on the island. The northern part of the municipality is considered to be within the rainy western mountains. Barrio Anón is home to Cerro Maravilla , a peak that at 4,085 feet (1,245 m)

9222-465: The southern third divided between hills, coastal plains, and the coastal flat. Ponce's municipal territory reaches the central mountain range to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south. Geographically speaking, the southern area of the territory is part of the Ponce-Patillas alluvial plain subsector and the southern coastal plain, which were created by the consolidation of the valleys of

9328-792: The state (to the king). However, in the 1820s, three events dramatically changed the size of the town. The first of these events was the arrival of a significant number of white Francophones , fleeing the Haitian Revolution of 1791–1804. The effect of this mass migration was not felt significantly until the 1820s. These French Creole entrepreneurs were attracted to the area because of its large flatlands, and they came with enough capital, slaves , and commercial connections to stimulate Ponce's sugarcane production and sales. Secondly, landlords and merchants migrated from various Latin American countries. They had migrated for better conditions, as they were leaving economic decline following

9434-431: The street, the front facade is enhanced by two small green parterres adjoining the concrete-iron fence and sidewalk. The elevation includes Doric columns and pilasters running two stories high, identical pediments at each end and an escutcheon -like crowning piece with a clock. The latter is dead center over the entrance portico . Concrete flat roofs, an extended parapet and a wide horizontal cornice tie together all

9540-474: The sudden appearance of stone temples from one period after the other, this becomes mostly speculation. Another belief is that the Doric was inspired by the architecture of Egypt . With the Greeks being present in Ancient Egypt as soon the 7th-century BC, it is possible that Greek traders were inspired by the structures they saw in what they would consider foreign land. Finally, another theory states that

9646-495: The three 6th-century BC temples at Paestum in southern Italy, a region called Magna Graecia , which was settled by Greek colonists. Compared to later versions, the columns are much more massive, with a strong entasis or swelling, and wider capitals. The Temple of the Delians is a " peripteral " Doric order temple, the largest of three dedicated to Apollo on the island of Delos . It was begun in 478 BC and never completely finished. During their period of independence from Athens,

9752-496: The top of the shafts and the wide cushionlike echinus may be interpreted as slightly self-conscious archaising features, for Delos is Apollo's ancient birthplace. However, the similar fluting at the base of the shafts might indicate an intention for the plain shafts to be capable of wrapping in drapery. A classic statement of the Greek Doric order is the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, built about 447 BC. The contemporary Parthenon ,

9858-401: 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 by several of the downtown barrios , and is located approximately three miles (4.8 km) inland from

9964-514: The urban zone of the city. There are six barrios in the core urban zone of the municipality named Primero , Segundo , Tercero , Cuarto , Quinto , and Sexto . They are delimetered by streets, rivers, or major highways. For example, Barrio Tercero is bounded in the north by Isabel Street, in the east by the Rio Portugués, in the south by Comercio Street, and the west by Plaza Las Delicias . Barrio Tercero includes much of what

10070-656: The whole area from the Rio Portugués to the Bay of Guayanilla was called Ponce. In 1670, a small chapel was raised in the middle of the small settlement and dedicated in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe . Among its earliest settlers were Juan Ponce de León y Loayza , and the Portuguese Don Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán, from nearby San Germán . On September 17, 1692, the King of Spain Carlos II issued

10176-622: Was approved in 1880, and the Ponce Fair was held in the city in 1882. It showed several industrial and agricultural advancements. "It is important to establish a relationship between the European exhibitions that I have mentioned and the Ponce Fair, as the Fair was meant as a showcase of the advancements of the day: Agriculture, Trade, Industry, and the Arts. Just as with the 1878 World's Fair in Paris,

10282-531: Was built called the McKinley building, and the Ponce High students occupied said facilities as well. Construction of the now-historic Ponce High School building on Cristina Street started in 1915 and the building was inaugurated in 1920. The school is located in barrio Tercero . It faces Cristina street to the north and is bounded on the south by Comercio street ( PR-133 ), on the west by Salud street, and on

10388-419: Was centred upon the last column ( illustration, right: I. ). This was regarded as the ideal solution which had to be reached. Changing to stone cubes instead of wooden beams required full support of the architrave load at the last column. At the first temples the final triglyph was moved ( illustration, right: II. ), still terminating the sequence, but leaving a gap disturbing the regular order. Even worse,

10494-402: Was flexible: here they bear the famous sculptures including the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs . In the Roman Doric version, the height of the entablature has been reduced. The endmost triglyph is centered over the column rather than occupying the corner of the architrave. The columns are slightly less robust in their proportions. Below their caps, an astragal molding encircles the column like

10600-530: Was fought. Three men were killed and 13 wounded on the Spanish side, while the Americans suffered four wounded. The American flag was raised in the town center that same day and most of the Spanish troops retreated into the surrounding mountains. The U.S. Army then established its headquarters in Ponce. After the U.S. invasion , the Americans chose to centralize the administration of the island in San Juan ,

10706-540: Was in fact its architect. Its setting — on a block surrounded by other schools also of architectural merit — adds to the school's important urban role. The site itself is a historic one, where the U.S. Army barracks were once located, before a fire ravaged the premises. The event is widely remembered in Ponce. Some of the Puerto Rico's most important public figures attended this school: three of Puerto Rico's governors graduated from there. Its auditorium sponsored drama events that were later acknowledged as definitive for

10812-599: Was in the circular Tempietto by Donato Bramante (1502 or later), in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio , Rome. Before Greek Revival architecture grew, initially in England, in the 18th century, the Greek or elaborated Roman Doric order had not been very widely used, though "Tuscan" types of round capitals were always popular, especially in less formal buildings. It was sometimes used in military contexts, for example

10918-478: Was often used to determine which type of column would be used for a particular structure. Later periods reviving classical architecture used the Roman Doric until Neoclassical architecture arrived in the later 18th century. This followed the first good illustrations and measured descriptions of Greek Doric buildings. The most influential, and perhaps the earliest, use of the Doric in Renaissance architecture

11024-485: Was succeeded by Francisco Zayas Seijo . In the 2008 general elections María "Mayita" Meléndez was elected mayor of the city of Ponce and served three terms. The current (2021) mayor is Luis Irizarry Pabón who became the first mayoral candidate in the modern history of Ponce to win with more than 60% of votes cast. The city is also the governmental seat of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, and

11130-399: Was the largest, "at a time enrolling more students than all the other Puerto Rico high schools combined", and for many years enrolling more students than any other high school in Puerto Rico. The cost of the building in 1915 dollars was $ 150,000 USD ($ 4.52 million in 2023 dollars). The building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on 4 August 1987. The school has

11236-425: Was the scene of a major tragedy, when at least 129 people lost their lives to a mudslide in a sector of Barrio Portugués Urbano called Mameyes . International help was needed to rescue people and recover corpses. The United States and many other countries, including Mexico, France, and Venezuela , sent economic, human, and machinery relief. The commonwealth government, subsequently, relocated hundreds of people to

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