Luis Porrata-Doría

Luis Porrata-Doría Martin[4] (1859 – ca. 1920) was Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico from 11 November 1898 to 12 September 1899.[5][6] He is best remembered for his forced resignation as mayor following his municipal government's poor response to the catastrophic Category 5 San Ciriaco hurricane that occurred during his administration.[7]

Luis Porrata-Doría
103rd Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico
In office
11 November 1898 – 12 September 1899
Preceded byJosé Lloréns Echevarría
Succeeded byAlbert L. Myer
Personal details
Born1859[1]
Ponce, Puerto Rico[2]
Diedca. 1920
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Spouse(s)Ana Gutierrez de Pando, a.k.a., Ana Pando Romero
ChildrenConsuelo (b. ca. 1887),
Francisco (b. 1890),
Luis, (b. 1892),
Lucila (1896)[3]
ProfessionPolitician

Early years

His father was a Puerto Rican man and his mother was Spaniard.[8] He married Ana Gutierrez de Pando, a.k.a. Ana Pando Romero, around 1887 and they had 4 children: Consuelo (b. ca. 1887), Francisco (b. 1890), Luis, (b. ca. 1892), and Lucila (b. ca 1896).[9] Porrata-Doria Martin was the father of Ponce architect Francisco Porrata-Doria.

Mayoral term

Porrata-Doría had been a member of the Ponce municipal council in 1886, a decade before he became mayor.[10] Porrata-Doria Martin was named mayor of Ponce by the American military governor of Puerto Rico at the time, Major General Guy Vernon Henry, after Henry removed Lloréns Echevarría as mayor of Ponce on 12 November 1898.[11]

Porrata-Doria worked to contain the legalized prostitution problem in the city as brought up by the political activist and journalist from Ponce, Ramon Mayoral Barnes (pen name, "Canta Claro").[12]

A devastating hurricane, San Ciriaco, had hit the southern coast of Puerto Rico on 8 August 1899. A year earlier the United States had invaded the island and installed a military central government based in San Juan. General Nelson A. Miles had been installed by the President of the United States as the first American military governor of the Island, and Porrata-Doría had been elected mayor by the people of Ponce as was the electoral practice for many decades under the old Spanish system.[7]

Hirricane San Ciriaco, however, proved to be the test of the mayorship of Porrata-Doría. As a result of the impact of the hurricane, a number of demonstrations took place around the island to denounce the poor response of various municipal governments to the disaster. “The most serious demonstration of tension took place in Ponce, where damage and mortality had been extensive, especially for the poor. A large crowd of several hundred indigent residents gathered to denounce Mayor Porrata Doria for not giving the population adequate warning or taking appropriate measures. A detachment of the U.S. Fifth Cavalry broke up the demonstrations, but the mayor was eventually forced to resign.”[7]

At this point the military governor, General Miles, appointed as interim mayor of Ponce the U.S. military commanding officer for Ponce, Major Albert L. Myer. In 1900, Major Myer was replaced by a popularly elected civil mayor, Pedro Juan Rosaly.[7]

In December 1913, Porrata-Doría was president of the Ponce Municipal Assembly.[13]

See also

References
  1. 1920 United States Federal Census
  2. Certificado de Defunción for Francisco Porrata-Doria. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001 for Francisco Luis Porrata-Doria Pando. Defunciones (Deaths), Ponce, Defunciones 1971-1973, t. 204-207. Accessed 6 February 2019.
  3. 1920 United States Federal Census
  4. 1910 United States Federal Census
  5. Socorro Girón. Ponce, el teatro La Perla y La Campana de la Almudaina. Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1992. Page 398.
  6. Ponce. Puerto Rico Encyclopedia. Archived 2012-07-07 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Schwartz, Stuart B. (1992). "The Hurricane of San Ciriaco: Disaster, Politics, and Society in Puerto Rico, 1899-1901". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 72 (3): 303–334. doi:10.2307/2515987. JSTOR 2515987.
  8. 1910 United States Federal Census
  9. 1910 United States Federal Census for Luis Porrata Doria Y Martín. Puerto Rico, Ponce, Ponce Ward 3, District 0625.
  10. Ileana M. Rodriguez-Silva. Silencing Race: Disentangling Blackness, Colonialism, and National Identities in Puerto Rico. New York. Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. p. 103.
  11. Rodríguez-Silva, I. (19 October 2012). Silencing Race: Disentangling Blackness, Colonialism, and National Identities in Puerto Rico. p. 204. ISBN 9781137263223.
  12. Findlay, Eileen (1999). Imposing Decency: The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870-1920. p. 101. ISBN 0822323966.
  13. Eduardo Questell Rodríguez. Historia de la Comunidad Bélgica de Ponce a partir de la Hacienda Muñiz y Otros datos. Mariana Editores. 2018. page 70.

Further reading
  • Imposing Decency: The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870-1920, by Eileen J. Suarez Findlay. Duke University Press. 1999.
  • Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliográfica Anotada. Second Edition. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 214. Item 1102. LCCN 92-75480
  • Henry K. Carroll. Report on the Island of Puerto Rico: Its Population, Civil Government, Commerce, Industries, Productions, Roads, Tariff, and Currency, with Recommendations. Washington, DC. Government Printing Office, 1899. New York: Arno Press, 1975. pp. 570-579. (Colegio Universitario Tecnológico de Ponce, CUTPO / University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras, UPR).
  • Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliográfica Anotada. Second Edition. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 263. Item 1319. LCCN 92-75480
  • Ana Mercedes Santiago de Curet. "Contrapunto boricua: Ponce y San Juan and te la llegada de los americanos." La nación soñada: Cuba, Puerto Rico y Filipinas ante el 98; Actas del Congreso Internacional celebrado en Aranjuez del 24 al 28 de abril de 1995. pp. 559-566. Aranjuez, España: Doce Calles. 1996. (Colegio Universitario Tecnológico de Ponce, CUTPO).
  • Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliográfica Anotada. Second Edition. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 264. Item 1324. LCCN 92-75480
  • Stuart B. Schwartz. "El Huracán de San Ciriaco: desastre, política y sociedad en Puerto Rico, 1899-1901." Historia y Sociedad. Año 5 (1992) pp. 128-162. (Colegio Universitario Tecnológico de Ponce, CUTPO / Universidad de Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras).
  • Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliográfica Anotada. Second Edition. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 264. Item 1320. LCCN 92-75480
  • Ana Mercedes Santiago de Curet. "La reacción de Ponce a la ocupación americana: 1898." Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Año 90 (Octubre-Diciembre 1985.) pp. 9-16. (Colegio Universitario Tecnológico de Ponce, CUTPO / PUCPR).
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