The municipality of San Lorenzo is a mountain town located on the eastern side of the central region of Puerto Rico, between
the Caguas Valley and the Cordilleras Central mountain range.
Welcome to San Lorenzo
In the eighteenth century the Caguas valley was largely farmland made up of ranches dedicated to raising cattle (Hatos). Within one of these ranches, known as Hato Grande, a small chapel was build in 1737 under the patronage of San Miguel. A village grew up around the chapel of San Miguel de Hato Grande, with the village taking the name of the chapel. The owner of Hato Grande, Valeriano Muñoz de Oneca, donated land to allow the village of San Miguel de Hato Grande to become a municipality which happened in 1811.
Historians have argued about the exact date on which the municipality was founded, with of the date ranging from 1811 to 1814. This cannot be determined from official documents as a fire in the municipal buildings in 1837 destroyed all of those. The municipality itself is satisfied to claim 1811 as its founding, as can be seen on the clock tower in the Plaza de los Alcaldes.
Sometime around 1812, legend says that the martyr San Lorenzo appeared on a rock in the Cayrabón River which passes through the town, resulting in the adoption of this saint as its patron in place of San Miguel. At the time, San Lorenzo was also adopted as the town's name, but officially the name of the town remained Hato Grande until 1901 when a resolution of the Puerto Rico Legislature changed it to San Lorenzo.
At its founding, San Lorenzo's economy was based largely on raising cattle, with coffee, tobacco, corn and other minor fruits also being cultivated. By the mid-19th century, sugarcane had become important, and the municipality developed a number of haciendas dedicated to this. As with a number of surrounding towns, tobacco also grew in importance, and San Lorenzo began significant exploitation of timber resources.
By the later part of the 20th century, the Puerto Rico Economic Development Administration had influenced industrial development in the area and by 1980 San Lorenzo had more than 20 manufacturing facilities. Today, San Lorenzo's economy continues to be based on manufacturing, while the raising of cattle and pigs remains significant and reflects the towns origins.
Parroquia Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes de San Miguel de Hato Grande
The San Lorenzo parish church, Our Lady of Mercy of San Miguel de Hato Grande, includes in its name a reference to the original name of the town of San Lorenzo. The current church was built on the site of La Ermita de San Miguel de Hato Grande (The Chapel of San Miguel de Hato Grande) which was constructed in 1737 when the settlement was still a village.
Parroquia Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes de San Miguel de Hato Grande
The Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes de San Miguel de Hato Grande (Our Lady of Mercy) church is an example of neoclassical provincial architecture in Puerto Rico. The name of the church (Las Mercedes) was given in honour of the wife of Don Miguel Muñoz de Oneca, Doña Mercedes Delgado Manso. Muñoz de Oneca was the owner of Hato Grande at the time, and ordered the construction of the Ermita in 1737.
The basic plan of the church is a rectangular building, one story in height, with a bell tower attached at the front façade, and the main altar and sacristy volume attached at the end of the nave. The church sits on one side of the San Lorenzo public plaza on a northwest-southeast axis, so while not fully oriented it does tend in the correct direction.
Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes standing prominently above the plaza de recreo
As already said, the structure dates back to the eighteenth century when it started as an "ermita" (small chapel) and developed further once it became the parish church of a formal municipality. The chapel's original main structural elements consisted of thick brick, stone and masonry walls with "ausubo" wood columns supporting a hipped roof with clay tiles, supported on wood beams.
In 1814, Governor Miguel de la Torre, ordered the demolition of the hipped tiled roof to be substituted by a flat roof. During that work, the simple "ausubo" wooden posts supporting the roof were replaced by thick piers with roman arches. Later, the roof above the altar was replaced by a thick barrel vault with a lantern at its centre.
In 1860, the mayor of San Lorenzo temporarily closed the church due to its deteriorated condition in order to prevent an accident. Part of the roof at the central nave caved in and some wood beams were found to be dangerously rotten. While plans were proposed at various times to repair the church, it took until 1876 to get one approved and the work done to restore the church. At that time the work included the addition of a bell tower at the front with the top part formed by an octagonal shaped area with roman arches.
Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes
View of the church in the late 19th centuryPhoto Source: National Register of Historic Places
Interior of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes
In 1887 the church was restored and altered to the state it exists in today. The project included the addition of a public clock at the west façade of the bell tower, together with new openings created for windows on the front façade and the lateral naves, along with the replacement of the roof structure.
The church has been kept in fair condition with minor alterations since the 1887 restoration, but remains basically unaltered since then.
Plaza del los Alcaldes
Located behind, and below, the San Lorenzo Town Hall (Alcaldía), we find the Plaza de los Alcaldes (Square of the Mayors), designed to honour and celebrate past mayors of this municipality. Inaugurated in 2018, it pays tribute to the 10 mayors who served San Lorenzo from 1936 through the present time.
The Plaza when inaugurated in 2018Photo Source: Municipio de San Lorenzo
The Plaza contains, at its centre, the coat of arms of San Lorenzo embedded in the floor and is surrounded with sculptures for each of the mayors it honours. The sculptures are in the form of a stone slab on which is mounted a curved metal plate engraved with an image of one of the mayors.
Looking down on the Plaza today
These are arranged so that they alternately face in and face out of the Plaza. The design also includes a museum dedicated to the distinguished Puerto Rican writer José Luis González as well as grass spaces giving the whole a very open feeling.
The design of the Plaza was entrusted to the architect Wilfredo Rodríguez, with its construction in the hands of engineers Jesús Cuevas and Jorge Ramos.
The Dedication Plaque
A plaque is mounted on the back wall with words of dedication, expressing the sentiments that created the Plaza.
Levantamos la mirada para observar de cerca,
el tesoro más valioso que una generación puede apreciar y preservar;
Plaza de los Alcaldes
Hombres de Estado. Defensores de los más profundos principios y valores
democráticos y más aún, de los derechos humanos.
Grandes personas, fecundas por su sensibilidad, su sabiduría y solidaridad.
Visionarios en su aportación al acervo común y en el análisis profundo
de los problemas que enmarcan la justicia social, en cada momento y espacio
geográfico del pueblo de San Lorenzo. En este grano de tiempo, se citan la
experiencia del pasado y el propósito dinámico del porvenir.
Acuñemos esta gran obra arquitectónica para el futuro. Orientemos el interés
público más allá de todas las consideraciones personales, conservando la claridad
de juicio, virtudes que deben prevalecer por encima de las discrepancias que
surgen, tras años de convivencia política.
Así cuidaremos con amor la semilla que ha sido depositada en nuestras manos.
Que esta fervosa luz, prevalezca en el tiempo, para mantenernos unidos con energía
en el alma y claridad en el espíritu de cada samaritano.
The mayors who are now exalted in the Plaza are: Pedro Borges López, Ernesto Hernández Rodríguez, Policarpo Santana Flores, Dolores González Díaz, Jesús Santa Aponte, Carlino Arroyo Rodríguez, José A. Delgado Rodríguez, William Gómez Flores and Víctor Figueroa Orozco, as well as the most recent past mayor José R Román Abreu.
Los Alcaldes
Pedro Borges López
Ernesto Hernández Rodríguez
Policarpo Santana Flores
Dolores González Díaz
Jesús Santa Aponte
Carlino Arroyo Rodríguez
José A Delgado Rodríguez
William Gómez Flores
Víctor Figueroa Orozco
José R Román Abreu
La Playita de la 9
Where the small river, Río PLayita de la 9, runs into the larger Río Grande de Loíza, a couple of miles upstream from downtown San Lorenzo, is a small recreational area beside Road #9912. Playita de la 9 is a set of rock pools that offer a pleasant spot to spend time, soaking in one of the pools or relaxing in the picnic area.
Bird's eye view of La Playita de la 9
A view looking upstream
View showing picnic area above the rocks
Water rushing over the rocks
Urban Art
It is not by chance that, as we walk around San Lorenzo, we find examples of urban art, with a number of murals brightening up walls of the town. The municipal government has deliberately promoted the painting of murals and other artistic decorations targeted at areas of the town in need of revitalisation.
"La Samaritana" mural by Héctor Hoyos Ortega
Announced by the municipality in 2022, the project Arte Publico (Public Art) has encouraged artists to paint murals and other decorations in order to add colour to otherwise drab and deteriorated areas of the town. Under this project, the municipality's Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism identified areas of San Lorenzo which could benefit from the addition of artistic works. In those locations, the Department took on the responsibility to clean up the area and create a space for the chosen artist to execute their design.
Decorated utility pole
One artist who worked under the Public Art project is the Department's own Héctor Hoyos Ortega who created the murals, "La Samaritana" and "La Mariposa de la Pluma" both of which are located in the downtown community known as El Bosque. The San Lorenzo artist known as Flora Pa'l Corazón also created a mural which can be seen in the park of the Jardines de San Lorenzo neighbourhood.
Mural "La Pluma de la Mariposa" in "El Bosque" community
The murals created under this project are not limited to communities close to the urban centre of San Lorenzo, with other examples being found, for instance, in barrio Quemados by the artist Félix Ricardo Ortiz and another in barrio Cerro Gordo, created by painter Raymond Guadalupe.
Also, the project is not restricted to large murals, as numerous other examples can be found of artistic decoration on utility poles, concrete barriers and other walls scattered around town with colourful paintings.
Mural by Flora Pa'l Corazón in the Jardines de San Lorenzo neigbourhood
La Casa Machín Ramos
La Casa Machín Ramos
The Machín Ramos House (La Casa Machín Ramos) is located on Calle Eugenio Sánchez López where it forms the north-western boundary of the plaza de recreo. Machín Ramos sits opposite the parish church, and is one of the oldest buildings in San Lorenzo still in use.
Viewed from in front of the Theatre
La Casa Machín Ramos has been declared a historical monument by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in May 1989. The Machín Ramos House is the best example of 19th century Creole vernacular architecture in the town centre of San Lorenzo, and one of very few structures with a similar architectural character remaining anywhere on the island.
The house in 1988Photo Source: National Register of Historic Places
The construction date of the house is unknown for certain. Property records show that it was owned by Don Pedro Machín y Flores and his wife Doña Candida Rosa Machín y Parrilla in 1883. It is recorded that it was under construction at that time, but this is likely an indication that it was being renovated. There is sufficient references in other places to suggest its construction dates back to c1850, at least for the ground floor, with the wooden upper structure possible added later.
The Machín family originated from the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, relating to the Isleño or Canarian vernacular architectural style that inspired this type of residence throughout 18th and 19th century Puerto Rico. Whereas most other surviving examples of this type of architecture on the island have been heavily modified, the Machín residence has retained its original features, even after many modifications and renovations.
In the late 19th century, the ground floor was used for commercial purposes and the upper floor was the family residence. It remained in the family well into the 20th century while today it houses the Department of Art, Culture and Tourism of the municipality.
Other scenes from around San Lorenzo
Ruinas de la Hacienda El Vapor
Located on the North bank of Río Grande de Loíza, the ruins of the Hacienda el Vapor have largely disappeared under the growing vegetation. What remains visible of this sugar plantation, is the mill chimney reaching above the trees.
Theatre
Museum
Shield
Teatro Pricila A Flores, on Calle Sánchez López, steps along the street from the Plaza de Recreo. Dedicated to a singer of typical music known as the "Lark of San Lorenzo".
Museo Historico Fe Leonor Borges. The Fe Leonor Borges Historical Museum has six rooms, exhibiting a small part of the history of San Lorenzo.
The coat of arms of San Lorenzo, embedded in the centre of the Plaza de los Alcaldes.
Plaza de Recreo
Looking down on the Plaza
Bird's eye view with parish church at the top
Looking towards the fountain from the north-eastern side of the Plaza
The fountain at the centre of the Plaza
Veteran's Monument
El Monumento al Veterano de San Lorenzo (The San Lorenzo Veteran's Monument) is located in its own small park on Calle José de Diego, just outside the downtown area.
Bandera de Hector
When created by Hector Collazo in April 2017, the San Lorenzo edition of the "78 Towns 1 Flag" was painted on the side of the restaurant La Casa de Abuela in barrio Jagual, located at Road #181, Branch 756, km 1.4. The restaurant has since closed and not been replaced, so the faded flag now flanks an abandoned building. The San Lorenzo flag on the front remains well defined.
