Ponce High School

Ponce High School
Partial front facade view of Ponce High School in Ponce, Puerto Rico
Address
37 Cristina Street Ponce , Puerto Rico 00733
Information
School type	Public secondary
Founded	1902
School district	Ponce District II
Principal	Dra. Gloria Rodriguez[citation needed]
Grades	10–12
Enrollment	1650+ (2010)
Language	Spanish
Area	Ponce Historic Zone
Color(s)	Black, & Red
Mascot	Lion

Ponce High School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Cristina Street, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Coordinates	18°00′42″N 66°36′37″W / 18.01155°N 66.61026°W / 18.01155; -66.61026
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built	by 1915
Architect	Adrian C. Finlayson[1]
Architectural style	Neoclassical
NRHP reference No.	87001310
Added to NRHP	4 August 1987

The Ponce High School is public educational institution in

The history of the institution dates back to January 1899. On 25 January 1899 a historic fire took place on the lot currently occupied by the High School.[8] The fire is known as the "Fuego del Polvorín" (the Fire of the Ammunition Depot). At that time the lot was used as a U.S. Army ammunition depot. Today a register marks the location of the fire.^[9] In November 1899, the new American government authorized the establishment of a public secondary school in Ponce modeled after the American school system. In 1903 the Roosevelt Industrial School was built on land where the US military had its munitions depot that caused the fire.^[10] Five years after El Polvorin, in the 1904-1905 timeframe, a two-story building with 12 classrooms was built to accommodate the Ruiz Gandia Grammar School in the same spacious El Polvorin lot. The first class of Ponce High School students formed in 1902.^[11] As new facilities were completed, the students were moved to them. For the 1907-1908 school year another building was built called the McKinley building, and the Ponce High students occupied said facilities as well. Construction of the now-historic Ponce High School building on Cristina Street started in 1915 and the building was inaugurated in 1920.^[12]

Location

The school is located in barrio

The main and most historical of the buildings faces north. In the back of this building is a large yard paved with concrete. This backyard contains several other large school buildings. The main building follows the neoclassical architectural style. The front entry consists of a raised portico and a lobby area. The school library is located on the first floor and the auditorium is on the second floor.

At both Eastern and Western sides of the lobby, and at both levels, L-shaped arcaded hallways lead to the classrooms. Two semi-enclosed patios are thus defined between the library-auditorium wing (much higher and wider) and the identical classroom wings facing East and West. Three sets of stairs are symmetrically laid out in the scheme: one of secondary importance at either side of the lobby; the most public one next to side entrances at the L-shaped circulation wings. A third set of stairs faces the patios and is the only one not to connect to the building's basement where more classrooms are found.^[13]

The most continuous side of the E-shaped structure constitutes the front

A most significant feature of Ponce High School is its two-story high, elongated auditorium, which also contains a generous stage area and a U-shaped wood mezzanine supported from the concrete ceiling. Its original lighting fixtures were removed and replaced by fluorescent ones. Classrooms are well lit and ventilated; there are many openings. Walls are plain, having been painted over and over throughout the years. The original wood floor finish is still retained in the library, the auditorium, and many of the classrooms; some have been substituted or changed to concrete. Hallways and stairs are paved in concrete. Vinyl flooring is used at offices. Glazed concrete tile is found at the lobby, where the original iron grilles, of geometrical design, are still in use.

Two small lean-to wood and zinc structures were added a few years ago. The auditorium was adapted to air conditioning features, with acoustic ceiling and related fixtures having been added. In spite of it all, and probably, because of the school's imposing scale, well balanced proportions and well-kept classical detailing, the integrity has not yet been lost.^[13]

Significance

Ponce High School is one of the five best school buildings built in Puerto Rico at the beginning of the 20th century and one of the most impressive. Between 1900 and 1925 over 3,000 schools were erected on the Island; only four included fully equipped auditoriums (not just assembly rooms) in their design: San Juan's Central High, Luis Muñoz Rivera School in Salinas, Arecibo's own Luis Muñoz Rivera School and Ponce High School. In that sense, these are the most representative examples of school building ideas being developed at the time in the United States by architects of renown, such as Haussander and

So far, the name of the architect for Ponce High School remains a mystery, although many facts point to Adrian C. Finlayson as its designer.^[15] Mr. Finlayson was, at the time, architect of the Insular Government's Interior Department, and was responsible for many other structures of similar use, size and style. As such, he is a key figure on Puerto Rico's architectural development.^[14] Most historians, however, coincide that Finlayson was in fact its architect.^[1]

Setting

Its setting — on a block surrounded by other schools also of architectural merit — adds to the school's important urban role. The site itself is a historic one, where the U.S. Army barracks were once located, before a fire ravaged the premises. The event is widely remembered in Ponce.^[14]

Partial list of principals

• Horace O. Wells (c. 1903-?)^[16]
• E. N. Gerrish (c. 1911 - ?)^[17]
• Charles H. Terry (c. 1915 - ? )^[18][19]
• C. McKroskey (c. 1916-?)^[19]
• E. D. Brown (c. 1920 - ?)^[12]
• Mariano Villaronga-Toro (c. 1936- ?)^[20]
• Charles O. Hamill (c.1944?-1950[21])^{[citation needed]}
• Esther Renaud de Pagan (? - 1963 - ?)^[22]
• Ruth Fotuño de Calzada (c. 1960s)
• Ana Adela de Armas^[23] (1970-1985)^[21]
• Lydia Quiñones Capo (c. 1987 - 2012)^[24][25]
• Axel Rivera Rouchet (2012 - 2014)^{[citation needed]}
• Jeniffer Machado (2014–Present)^{[citation needed]}

Alumni

Some of the Puerto Rico's most important public figures attended this school: three of Puerto Rico's governors graduated from there. Its auditorium sponsored drama events that were later acknowledged as definitive for the formation of a Puerto Rican theatrical tradition. The auditorium at Ponce High molded those beginnings. In conclusion, the architecture of Ponce High stands out among the Island's built legacy for historic, stylistic, conceptual and symbolic reasons.^[14]

Notable alumni

• Pedro Albizu Campos,^[26] Nationalist and independence leader
• Rosa Collazo,^[27] Nationalist and independence leader.
• María Teresa Babín Cortés,^[28] writer
• Juan H. Cintrón García (class of 1936),^[29] mayor of Ponce
• José N. Gándara, physician^[30]
• César Luis González Cardona, military aviator
• Manuel González Pató,^[31] physical education professor
• Felix Maldonado
  , baseball player
• Francisco "Paquito" Montaner, baseball player^[32]
• Elin Ortiz, actor^[33]
• Bolívar Pagán^[34] historian, journalist, and politician
• Francisco Porrata Doria, architect^[35]
• Ernesto Ramos Antonini,^[36] politician
• Teodoro Moscoso, founder of Farmacias Moscoso, diplomat and politician^[37]
• Mariana Suarez de Longo, educator^[38]
• Luis Torres Nadal, playwright^[39]
• Mariano Villaronga Toro, public servant^[40]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in southern Puerto Rico
• List of high schools in Puerto Rico
• Campo Atlético Charles H. Terry

References