Guaraguao is a mountainous rural barrio located in the northwestern section of the municipality, northwest of the city of Ponce. Its location makes it susceptible to heavy rains, landslides, and road closings.[6] The
toponymy, or origin of the name, is related to the guaraguao tree,
Guarea trichilioides, in the
Guarea ramiflora family, a tree that grows to heights between 20 and 70 feet with a maximum 3-foot wide trunk at the foot of mountains in the humid central zone of Puerto Rico.[7]
Boundaries
Guaraguao is bounded on the North by
PR-516 (roughly), on the South by the hills north of Tierras Buenas Road, and the hills south of Las Lomas Road, on the West by the hills west of A Street,
PR-501 (roughly), and Las Lomas Road (roughly), and on the East by
PR-503, Rabanos I Road,
PR-10 (roughly), the hills west of
PR-123.[8][9]
In terms of barrio-to-barrio boundaries, Guaraguao is bounded in the North by Barrio
San Patricio, and by Barrio Portugues of the municipality of
Adjuntas, in the South by
Magueyes and
Marueño, in the West by Barrio
Marueño, and by Barrio Rucio of the municipality of
Peñuelas, and in the East by
San Patricio and
Tibes.[8]
Features and demographics
Guaraguao has 4.13 square miles (11 km2) of land area and no water area. In 2000, the population of Guaraguao was 1,669 persons, and it had a density of 130 persons per square mile.[10][11] Guaraguao is the seventh least densely populated barrio in the municipality of Ponce.[12] Major roads serving Barrio Guaraguao are
PR-10,
PR-123,
PR-501,
PR-515, and
PR-516.[8] The communities of Las Lomas and Santas Pascuas[13] are located in Guaraguao. Also, sector San Andres is in Guaraguao.[13]
In 2010, the population of Guaraguao was 1,117 persons, and it had a density of 270.5 persons per square mile.[14]
The highest point in Barrio Guaraguao stands at 3,280 feet and is located on the extreme northwestern tip of the barrio.[15]
U.S. Decennial Census 1899 (shown as 1900)[16] 1910-1930[17] 1930-1950[18] 1960[19] 1980-2000[20] 2010[21]
Notable landmarks
Guaraguao is abundant in
fauna and
flora, and it is home to many
creeks and
brooks. The largest river in barrio Guaraguao is
Río Canas, which empties into the
Caribbean Sea after merging with
Río Pastillo in the city of Ponce to become
Rio Matilde.[8] In a March 2010 competition sponsored by the Puerto Rico Water and Environment Association, the Guaraguao water filtering plant of the Puerto Rico Water Authority (Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados) was assessed to be the best-tasting water in Puerto Rico.[22]
^Sunny A. Cabrera Salcedo. Hacia un Estudio Integral de la Toponimia del Municipio de Ponce, Puerto Rico. Ph. D. dissertation. May 1999. University of Massachusetts Amherst. Graduate School. Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Page 54.
^Barrios de Ponce.Archived 30 September 2015 at the
Wayback Machine Antepasados Esclavos.(From: Pedro Tomás de Córdoba. Memorias geográficas, históricas, económicas y estadísticas de la Isla de Puerto Rico.) Retrieved 28 November 2014.
^Guaraguao: al ras de la desesperación. Jason Rodríguez Grafal. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 30. Issue 1479. Page 12. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
^Government of the Municipality of Ponce. Periodico "El Señorial". Special issue: Carnaval Ponceño 2013. February 2013. Page 17. Ponce, Puerto Rico.
^Maptest.Archived 2010-02-18 at the
Wayback Machine Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. General Purpose Population Data, Census 2000. Unidad de Sistemas de Información Geográfica, Área de Tecnología de Información Gubernamental, Oficina de Gerencia y Presupuesto. Gobierno de Puerto Rico. Retrieved 10 November 2011.