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Inmaculada Concepción Parish

The origin and founding of Guayanilla has been debated by various historians, with some saying that its origins lie in the old settlement of Santa María de Guadianilla, founded in 1511 by Captain Miguel del Toro. It is said that this settlement was destroyed by French pirates. Others say that the origin of the towntown, founding: A group of vecinos that wanted to found a town had to grant a power of attorney to one or more other vecinos to represent them before the governor and viceroy. This person could authorize the founding of the town and the establishment of a parish. The grantors of the power of attorney had to be a majority in the given territory and more than ten in number. Once the case had been made, the governor appointed a capitán poblador or settlement official to represent the vecinos and one or more delegates, who usually lived in nearby cabildos vecinos to receive the necessary documentation. Proof was required that the settlement was so far from a church that it was very difficult for the settlers to partake of sacraments and municipal services. In general, proof was provided of the absence or bad condition of roads and bridges. If the petition was approved, it was required that the vecinos mark off the new municipality and build public works such as a church, a parish house, a government house (Casa del Rey), a slaughterhouse, and a cemetery, and to set aside land for the town square or plaza and the commons (ejidos). The vecinos were expected to cover the cost of building these works by levying special assessments. Usually one of the land owners donated some land for the founding. Once the requirements had been met, the governor authorized the founding of the town and the parish, and he appointed a Lieutenant at War who usually was the same capitán poblador. dates to 1756, the year that Yauco was founded, as Guayanilla was then a sector of Yauco. Some say the name comes from a corruption of the Taino word "Guaynia," the place where the chief Agüeybana lived.

In 1830, there were more residents in Guayanilla than in Yauco and, in 1821, a resident named Narciso Valdés paid the expenses for building a chapel as part of the Yauco parish. The town grew around the chapel. On February 27, 1833, the town was officially founded by order of Governorgovernor: in the Spanish colonies, the governor was the figure immediately beneath the viceroy in political and legal affairs. Like the alcaldes mayores, the governors could not be vecinos, encomenderos or owners of land or mines in the jurisdiction. When the title was added to that of Captain General, the position also implied the highest military authority. Governorships were applied to sparsely populated colonies or frontier zones. Puerto Rico was a frontier zone. Miguel de la Torre. Among the founders were Catalans, Venezuelans, French and island-born persons. Some say that the Spaniards who lived there gave it the name Guadianilla for the river of the same name in Spain. Later, it was changed to Guayanilla.

The towns first leader was Lieutenant Colonel Ramón González, a Venezuelan. The construction of the church began in 1831 and was completed in 1840, and the following year it was blessed and officially devoted to the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

In the 1830s. Guayanilla consisted of the sectors of Barrero, Boca, Consejo, Guayanilla Pueblo, Indios, Jagua Alta, Jagua Baja, Llano, Maga, Macaná, Pasto, Plantaje, Playa, Quebrada, Quebrada Honda and Sierra Baja.

In 1856, decades after it was founded, the municipality was severely affected by a deadly cholera epidemic. The effects were such that residents had to create cemeteries on various plantations. From its beginnings, Guayanilla's economy was based on agriculture, the cultivation of sugar cane, coffee, and the commerce that took place at the port. In 1849, there were nineteen cane presses, the majority of them iron. In 1877, there were six steam-powered mills and two oxen-powered ones. The cultivation of coffee expanded greatly during the last decades of the 19th century. Another factor that favored the municipal economy was the availability of the port for commerce, and on February 10, 1871, a local customs office was established there.

In 1898, Guayanilla had five sugar mills with 579 cuerdas of land; 2,945 cuerdas of land dedicated to growing coffee; 18,023 cuerdas of pasture land; and another 107 cuerdas for other crops. There were also 5,352 head of cattle. Years later, there was a central sugar mill called Rufina, which produced 17,000 sacks of sugar a year. In 1974, 62,263 tons of cane were harvested and 5,247 tons of sugar were produced.

In 1902, the Puerto Rico legislative assembly approved a law that annexed Guayanilla and its sectors to the municipality of Ponce. This changed in 1905 when the law was repealed and Guayanilla was reinstituted as an independent municipality. At that time, Guayanilla consisted of the following sectors: Barrero, Boca, Consejo, Guayanilla Pueblo, Indios, Jagua de Pasto, Llano, Magas, Macaná, Pasto, Playa, Quebrada, Quebrada Honda and Sierra Baja.

In 1919, the sector of Cedro de Peñuelas was created and in 1935 the Rufina sector. The Planning Board prepared the map of the municipality of Guayanilla in 1948, annexing parts of the sectors of Indios, Jaguas, Magas, Quebrada and Rufina to the urban zone.

From 1960 to 1980, the municipality played an important role in the industrial development of the island. At that time, a petrochemical complex was created that greatly influenced the economic activity of the town. CORCO, P.P.G. Industries (Caribbean) and Union Carbide Caribbean provided many jobs for Guayanilla and neighboring municipalities. Also, the port has helped the municipality retain its fishing industry.

Symbols

Flag
The flag of Guayanilla contains the main colors of the coat of arms. It consists of three horizontal bands of equal width: white on top, yellow in the center, and green below.

Coat of arms
The municipality's coat of arms is divided into four sections: in the first and fourth sections, a chapel appears on the green background, accompanied by four houses, two on each side, all of them silver in color and outlined in red and positioned above a white band. On the first section, an eight-pointed silver star overlooks the chapel. On the second and third sections, which are silver in color, appears a raging silver lion. The first lion holds a red flower in his right paw. The second one holds an arrow of the same color in both paws with the gold-tipped point upwards and an azure fletching. The coat of arms is surrounded by two sugar cane stalks with their leaves crossed at the bottom, drawn in conventional heraldic style.

The chapel and the houses represent a primitive Christian town in Puerto Rico, specifically Santa María de Guadianilla or "San Germán, el Nuevo," which was established on the banks of the Guayanilla River in the middle of the 16th century. The star symbolizes the Virgin Mary, patron saint of the municipality. The repetition of this theme, without the star, in the final panel, alludes to the official founding of Guayanilla in 1833.

The lion, with slight alterations, is taken from the coat of arms of the Ortiz de Almendralejo family of Extremadura, the ancestry of Rodrigo Ortiz Vélez, mayor and defender of Santa María de Guadianilla and founder of San Germán de las Lomas de Santa Marta, the site to which the original settlement was moved. It also alludes to the brave and intrepid defense of the town mounted by Rodrigo Ortiz Vélez and his men against the attacks and attempted invasions by French pirates and the Caribe Indians. The first victory is symbolized by the fleur de lis and the second by the arrow, which in this case represents combat.

The ancient crown shown on the red background in the center symbolizes the Taino chief Agüeybaná, the main leader of the indigenous people of Boriquén, whose territory was located in the region of Guaynía. The blue anchor on a field of gold represents the beach and port of Guayanilla. The crown wall is the insignia that identifies the coat of arms of a municipality. The sugar cane stalks indicate that Guayanilla is located in a cane growing region and alludes to the importance of the sugar industry in the town's history.