Ponce

Carmelo Rosario Natal has linked the origins of the Ponce Historic Zone to an event that took place on 8 June 1893. On that date, La Gaceta de Puerto Rico, the insular government's official periodical, published an edict of the Governor of Puerto Rico, Antonio Daban y Ramirez de Arellano, that mandated municipal authorities throughout the Island to divide, for fire control purposes, a town's urban center into three zones: stone-built, build with fire resistant materials, and built with combustible materials. No structure could be built, rebuilt or restored within a minimum of 50 meters from the town's central square unless it was stoned-built or it was to be upgraded to a stone-built structure. According to Rosario Natal, those were the roots of what almost 70 years later would be called the Ponce Historic Zone. …

The historic zone is located in what is commonly called Ponce Pueblo – the central downtown and oldest area of the city. While there are several roads that lead to it, the most common point of entry is via PR-1, which becomes the Miguel Pou Boulevard, and then into the one-way Isabel Street, leading to the center of Ponce at the Plaza Las Delicias. In addition to Plaza Las Delicias, with its unique Parque de Bombas and Nuestra Señora de la Guadalupe Cathedral, the zone includes landmarks such as Ponce City Hall, Armstrong-Poventud Residence, Ponce High School, and Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro. Numerous other attractions in this historic area are listed in the NRHP, such as Banco de Ponce, Casa Paoli, and Casa de la Masacre. …

Abolition Park, small plaza dedicated as a monument to the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico that today hosts a small garden, an amphitheater, in addition to the monument itself. Dora Colón Clavell Square, Modernist plaza surrounded by various historic and architectural landmarks. Paseo Atocha, historic commercialized pedestrian street that connects Ponce's main town square with its main market square. Plaza del Mercado Isabel Segunda, the main market hall and market place of the city of Ponce. Famous for its Art Deco architecture, although no longer the main commercial building in the city it still functions as a marketplace and mall. Plaza Juan Ponce de León, Art Deco former meat market today functions as a pedestrian mall. Plaza Las Delicias, separated by the cathedral into Muñoz Rivera and Degetau Squares, is the main town square of the city of Ponce. …