Utuado was founded October 12,
1739 by Sebastian
de Morfi, on behalf of 60 families from Arecibo. It was the first town
established in the interior mountainous region of the island
known as La Cordillera Central and the 11th
oldest established municipality in Puerto Rico, following: San
Juan, San German, Coamo, Arecibo, Aguada,
Loiza, Ponce, Añasco, Guayama and Manati.
Columbus's
arrival
At the time of the discovery
of the island on November 19, 1493 by Christopher Columbus,
Puerto Rico was inhabited by the Taíno Indians. The Taínos
were a culturally developed society with a universal language,
a developed agricultural system, and a social organization
based on Caciques or Chieftains. The Utuado area was ruled
over by Cacique Guarionex and in barrio Caguana they built an
impressive series of courts or bateyes, The Caguana Indian
Ceremonial park or Centro
Ceremonial Indígena de Caguana, that is considered the
best example of Taino engineering in the West Indies.
Utuado's early
history: XVI - XVIII
In his epic work El Dorado Borincano, La
economia de la conquista 1510-1550, Jalil Sued Badillo
gives a detailed account of the economic state of Puerto Rico
during the first decades after the discovery and mentions the
importance of the Otoao region. From 1510 through 1513 the
island witnessed a Taino Indian rebellion as a result of harsh
and inhumane treatment by the Spanish settlers. During the
process of pacification many Spaniards settled in the area now
occupied by the municipality of Utuado and set up farms
(Haciendas), initially on behalf of the Spanish government
(Hacienda Real), to provide food to the Indian slaves working
the gold mines and the Spanish colonists in the area. One of
the first settlers in the Otoao region in 1512 was Antonio
Sedeño, the island’s bookkeeper. His farm’s main crop was
yucca. His farm was sold in 1519 to Blas de Villasante, the
island’s treasurer, for 525 gold pesos.
Areas in the Utuado region that were exploited
for gold include Salto Arriba, initially, then later in the
1530s Caguana and Don Alonso. In the 1530s, landowners in the
Don Alonso area petitioned the crown permission to establish a
town in the area but it was never granted.
Once the gold mining era ends toward the end of
the 1500s, very little is known about the Utuado region until
the early 1700s. According to the Puerto Rican historian
Fernando Picó, the few documents that exist indicate the area
was mostly unpopulated and densely forested. On the other
hand, he states the fact that Utuado is the municipality with
the most caves, that most likely served as dwellings for
Indians or runaway slaves.
The agreement to establish
the town of Utuado by the 60 families of Arecibo states they
purchased the "Hato de Otoao" for 569 pesos and
5 reales from owners Manuel Natal and Felipa Román. It also
states their desire to choose where on the land the Town
Center would be located, which indicates the area was not
populated yet.
During his visit to the island in 1771, Fray Iñigo Abbad
y Lasierra states the principal economic activity in the
Utuado region was cattle raising, horses and mules. He mentions a small amount of
agricultural activity existed but the population only produced
enough tobacco and
coffee for their own
consumption.
During the late 1700s and early 1800s Utuado's
population continued to grow as coffee gained in importance
and growers saw the need for high altitudes and mountainous
terrain to produce the best coffee beans. People not only
migrated from the Puerto Rican coastal towns but also from the
Canary
Islands and the Balearic Islands of Majorca
and Minorca, all seeking the riches that coffee had to
offer.
The golden era of
coffee - "black gold"
During the late 1800’s Utuado experienced an
explosive economic growth centered around the cultivation of
coffee, also known at the time as “oro negro” or “black gold.”
By the 1890s Utuado was the largest producer of coffee in
Puerto Rico and the second municipality (after Ponce) with the
largest population. It produced a rich social lifestyle for
many of its citizens and a casino and theatre were established in the town.
The progress of the town was so evident that the regent Queen of
Spain, Maria Cristina, honored the town with the title of
Ciudad (City) on August 20, 1894.[1] In 1896 or 1897 Utuado
was the first city in Puerto Rico with a public electric
lighting system powered by a hydraulic turbine power
plant, [2][3] and in
that same year mayor Juan Casellas was planning a train system to unite
Utuado with Arecibo. By 1899 this golden era came to a
screeching halt due to two very important events that had a
lasting negative effect on the city’s economy. The first event was the United
States occupation of the island in 1898, which made sugar the new crop of
importance instead of coffee. Utuado’s mountainous landscape
was not ideal for growing sugarcane making it impossible for
it to compete in the sugar industry on a significant level.
The second event and the one to have the most profound impact
was Hurricane San Ciriaco
in 1899, which literally wiped out the coffee haciendas.
Utuado visited by a
President
In 1906 Utuado had the honor
of being visited by President Theodore Roosevelt, who
recommended building a bridge in the area known as "La
Playita."
