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Florida, Puerto Rico

Coordinates: 18°21′49″N 66°34′17″W / 18.36361°N 66.57139°W / 18.36361; -66.57139
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For other uses, see Florida (disambiguation).

Florida
Municipio de Florida
Town and Municipality
Town Hall in Florida
Town Hall in Florida
Flag of Florida
Flag
Coat of arms of Florida
Coat of arms
Nicknames: 
"Pueblo de la Piña Cayenalisa", "La Tierra del Río Encantado", "Tierra de los Mogotes"
Anthem: "Florida jardín hermoso (1961)"
Map of Puerto Rico highlighting Florida Municipality
Map of Puerto Rico highlighting Florida Municipality
Coordinates: 18°21′49″N 66°34′17″W / 18.36361°N 66.57139°W / 18.36361; -66.57139
Sovereign state United States
Commonwealth Puerto Rico
Settled1881
FoundedJuly 10, 1974
Founded byDr. Leopoldo Malavé
Barrios
1 barrio
Government
 • MayorJosé Gerena Polanco (PNP)
 • Senatorial dist.3 – Arecibo
 • Representative dist.13
Area
 • Total
26 km2 (10 sq mi)
Population
 (2020)[1]
 • Total
11,692
 • Rank72nd in Puerto Rico
 • Density450/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
DemonymFlorideños
Time zoneUTC-4 (AST)
ZIP Code
00650
Area code787/939
Major routes

Florida (Spanish pronunciation: [floˈɾiða]) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the karst region north of Ciales, south of Barceloneta, east of Arecibo, and west of Manatí. Florida is not like other municipalities of Puerto Rico with multiple subdivisions called barrios. It has one barrio called Florida Adentro and two other subdivisions: Florida Zona Urbana and Pajonal comunidad. It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

[edit]

Florida was founded first as a barrio of Barceloneta in 1881 when a priest named Father Carrión, the mayor of Barceloneta, and other dignitaries visited a tract of land of almost 4 acres. They decided to establish a new barrio. The owner of the land, Don Manuel Cintrón, granted the land while he retained a piece of it. The barrio was first called Florida Adentro.[2]

During the 20th century, several efforts were made to declare Florida as a municipality. First, on April 14, 1949, House Representative Francisco Díaz Marchand presented a project to create a legislative commission that would study the economic and social conditions of the barrio, to determine the suitability of it as an independent municipality. The project was unsuccessful. In 1960, Manuel Frías Morales presented a law that would permit the study to establish the municipality but it was also unsuccessful.

Finally, on June 14, 1971, the Senate of Puerto Rico and Governor Don Luis A. Ferré approved the law that officially created the municipality of Florida. It is thus the youngest municipality established in the island.

On September 20, 2017 Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico. In Florida, 1400 homes were a total loss and 2,295 homes were partially damaged.[3]

Geography

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Florida is the second smallest municipality of Puerto Rico, with an area of 10 square miles. As the only municipality in Puerto Rico that has its urban area within the northern karst region (sometimes referred as the Northern Karst Hills), it is surrounded by low elevation, red clay and limestone haystack hills known in Caribbean Spanish as mogotes. The southern border of the municipality with Ciales remains one of the least developed areas on the island, due to the ruggedness of the karst. The Río Encantado, a subterranean river, drains this area.[4] Several caves are found in the town, including Román Cave, Miró Cave, and Juana Gómez Cave.[5] Balcon Cave (Cueva Balcón) is located in Florida.[6]

Barrios

[edit]
Florida.

As with all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Florida is subdivided into administrative units called barrios (which means barrios or boroughs or neighborhoods in English). A newer municipality of Puerto Rico, Florida has one barrio called Florida Adentro and two sub-barrios: Florida Zona Urbana and Pajonal. It does not have a "barrio-pueblo" like most of the other municipalities of Puerto Rico.[7][8][9]

The following areas are neighborhoods in Florida:

  • Parcelas Arroyo
  • Parcelas Selgas
  • Pueblo Viejo
  • San Agustín
  • Perol
  • Tosas
  • La Villamil
  • Dolta

Sectors

[edit]
Further information: List of barrios and sectors of Florida, Puerto Rico

Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions)[10] are further subdivided into smaller areas called sectores (sectors in English). The types of sectores may vary, from sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others.[11][12][13][14][15] For all

Special Communities

[edit]
See also: Puerto Rico Office for Socioeconomic and Community Development

Comunidades Especiales de Puerto Rico (Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing a certain amount of social exclusion. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Florida: Sector El Hoyo in Comunidad San Agustín, Comunidad Arroyo, Sector Polvorín in Comunidad La Ceiba, Comunidad La Fuente, Estancias de Arroyo in La Joya, Sector El Cerro in Pajonal, and Sectors La Charca and Los Quemaos (both) in Parcelas Selgas.[16]

Culture and tourism

[edit]

To stimulate local tourism, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company launched the Voy Turistiendo ("I'm Touring") campaign, with a passport book and website. The Florida page lists Parque Ecológico Janet González, Río Encantado, and Bandera de Puerto Rico of the project Una Bandera, 78 Pueblos (One Flag, 78 Pueblos), as places of interest.[17]

Festival and events

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Florida celebrates its patron saint festival in September. The Fiestas Patronales de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment.[5]

Other festivals and events celebrated in Florida include:

Economy

[edit]
Sign for Florida Pharmaceuticals and PR-140, Exit 57 from PR-2

Historically, Florida's economy relied heavily on agriculture, specifically pineapple crops and other fruit-related products. In recent decades, along with the rest of the Island, rapid urbanization and industrialization, along with economic challenges, have forced Florida's fruit industry to near extinction.[18] Pharmaceutical manufacturing plants have been established in Florida.[19][20]

Demographics

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Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
19807,232—
19908,68920.1%
200012,36742.3%
201012,6802.5%
202011,692−7.8%
U.S. Decennial Census[21]
1899 (shown as 1900)[22] 1910–1930[23]
1930–1950[24] 1960–2000[25] 2010[26] 2020[27]

Florida is one of the least populated municipalities of Puerto Rico, perhaps due to its small size. The population, according to the 2000 census, was 12,237 with a population density of 1,236.7 people per square mile (475.6/km2). After its establishment in 1974, the population has steadily increased over the years, with 7,232 people in the 1980 census.

Statistics taken from the 2000 census shows that 86.0% of Florideños are of White origin, 4.9% are black, 0.2% are Amerindian etc.

Race – Florida, Puerto Rico – 2000 Census[28]
Race Population % of Total
White 11,381 92.0%
Black/African American 305 2.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 43 0.3%
Asian 31 0.3%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0 0.0%
Some other race 409 3.3%
Two or more races 198 1.6%

Government

[edit]
Main article: Mayoralty in Puerto Rico

After its initial establishment, Florida belonged to the Barceloneta region.[29] In 1949 and 1960 there were some attempts to separate the barrio from Barceloneta, but these were unsuccessful. However, in 1974, Governor Luis A. Ferré and the Puerto Rican Senate officially declared Florida an independent municipality. Its first mayor was Jorge L. Pérez Piñeiro. The current mayor is José Gerena Polanco, of the New Progressive Party (PNP). He was elected in the 2012 general elections.

The city belongs to the Puerto Rico Senatorial district III, which is represented by two senators. In 2024, Brenda Pérez Soto and Gabriel González were elected as District Senators.[30]

Symbols

[edit]

The municipio has an official flag and coat of arms.[31]

Flag

[edit]

It consists of three horizontal stripes, with the following colors and widths: green the superior and white the inferior, with five modules of width each one, the center one red, with a width of one module.[32]

Coat of arms

[edit]

Field of silver, in an abyss, a gules (red) anchored cross, like the one in the Asturian district of Llanes. The cross is anchored between two branches of bloomed poinsettias (Poinsettia pulcherrima). A green terrace represents the hilly terrain of the town, with a stripe forming waves outlined in silver which represents the underground river of Encantado. At the top, a three tower gold crown distinct in municipalities coat of arms. The shield can be surrounded, to its flanks and bottom by two crossed coffee tree branches with fruits.[32]

Names

[edit]

Florida derives its name from the abundant flowers and natural resources on its land. It is also known as La Tierra del Río Encantado due to an underground river called Encantado. Another nickname is the Pueblo de la Piña Cayenalisa due to its pineapple crops.

Education

[edit]

There are several public and private schools, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, distributed throughout the municipality of Florida. Public education is handled by the Puerto Rico Department of Education. These are some of the schools in Florida, as of 2020:[11]

  • Adolfo Egüen School
  • Juanita Ramírez González School
  • Juan Ponce De León II School
  • Francisco Frías Morales School
  • Ricardo Rodríguez Torres School
  • Early Head Start

Transportation

[edit]

Puerto Rico Highway 22 provides access to PR-140, which leads to Florida from the cities of Mayagüez in the west, or San Juan in the north.

Like most other towns on the Island, it has a public transportation system consisting of small, subsidized private buses and vans called públicos.[33]

There is only one bridge in Florida.[34]

Mayors of Florida

[edit]
  • 1974–1981 – Jorge Luis Pérez Piñeiro
  • 1981–1984 – Heriberto González Vélez
  • 1984–1992 – Juan Ramon De León Vélez [Johnny]
  • 1992–2004 – Maria Dolores Guzmán Cardona [Maggie]
  • 2004–2012 – José Aaron Pargas Ojeda
  • 2012–present – José Gerena Polanco

Notable Florideños

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See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Bureau, US Census. "PUERTO RICO: 2020 Census". The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 25, 2021. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ Puerto Rico (1977). Acts and Resolutions of Puerto Rico. Equity de Puerto Rico. p. 822.
  3. ^ "María, un nombre que no vamos a olvidar. Florida quedó oliendo a muerte tras el paso de María" [Maria, a name we will never forget. Florida was left smelling of death in Maria's aftermath]. El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). June 13, 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  4. ^ "Río Encantado". Para la Naturaleza. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Florida Municipality". enciclopediapr.org. Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades (FPH). Archived from the original on August 28, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  6. ^ "Cueva Balcones Florida PR para CIAM". YouTube (in Spanish). CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIÓN AMBIENTAL JPL. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  7. ^ Gwillim Law (May 20, 2015). Administrative Subdivisions of Countries: A Comprehensive World Reference, 1900 through 1998. McFarland. p. 300. ISBN 978-1-4766-0447-3. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  8. ^ 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 February 20, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  9. ^ "Map of Florida at the Wayback Machine" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  10. ^ "US Census Barrio-Pueblo definition". factfinder.com. US Census. Archived from the original on May 13, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  11. ^ a b "PRECINTO ELECTORAL FLORIDA 024" (PDF). Comisión Estatal de Elecciones (in Spanish). PR Government. October 19, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  12. ^ Mari Mut, José A. (August 28, 2013). "Los pueblos de Puerto Rico y las iglesias de sus plazas" (in Spanish). Retrieved June 19, 2020 – via archive.org.
  13. ^ "Agencia: Oficina del Coordinador General para el Financiamiento Socioeconómico y la Autogestión (Proposed 2016 Budget)". Puerto Rico Budgets (in Spanish). Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  14. ^ Rivera Quintero, Marcia (2014), El vuelo de la esperanza : Proyecto de las Comunidades Especiales Puerto Rico, 1997–2004 (Primera edición ed.), San Juan, Puerto Rico Fundación Sila M. Calderón, ISBN 978-0-9820806-1-0
  15. ^ "Leyes del 2001". Lex Juris Puerto Rico (in Spanish). Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  16. ^ Rivera Quintero, Marcia (2014), El vuelo de la esperanza:Proyecto de las Comunidades Especiales Puerto Rico, 1997–2004 (Primera edición ed.), San Juan, Puerto Rico Fundación Sila M. Calderón, p. 273, ISBN 978-0-9820806-1-0
  17. ^ Pasaporte: Voy Turisteando (in Spanish). Compañia de Turismo de Puerto Rico. 2021.
  18. ^ Feliciano, Ivette (August 22, 2015). "Puerto Rico seeks to reclaim island's farming industry". PBS. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  19. ^ Bomey, Nathan (September 22, 2017). "Hurricane Maria halts crucial drug manufacturing in Puerto Rico, may spur shortages". USA TODAY. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  20. ^ "Pharmaceutical industry: Eyes on Puerto Rico". El Nuevo Día. March 10, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  21. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
  22. ^ "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.
  23. ^ "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.
  24. ^ "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.
  25. ^ "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.
  26. ^ 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 February 20, 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  27. ^ Bureau, US Census. "PUERTO RICO: 2020 Census". The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 25, 2021. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  28. ^ "Ethnicity 2000 census" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved April 2, 2009.
  29. ^ Puerto Rico (1975). Acts of the Legislature of Puerto Rico. p. 544.
  30. ^ Elecciones Generales 2024: Escrutinio General Archived December 23, 2024, at elecciones2024.ceepur.org (Error: unknown archive URL) on CEEPUR
  31. ^ "Ley Núm. 70 de 2006 -Ley para disponer la oficialidad de la bandera y el escudo de los setenta y ocho (78) municipios". LexJuris de Puerto Rico (in Spanish). Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  32. ^ a b "FLORIDA". LexJuris (Leyes y Jurisprudencia) de Puerto Rico (in Spanish). February 19, 2020. Archived from the original on February 19, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  33. ^ "List of Licensed Publicos". Estadisticas PR. Puerto Rico Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  34. ^ "Florida Bridges". National Bridge Inventory Data. US Dept. of Transportation. Archived from the original on February 21, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
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