Juan José Cartagena (c. 1815 – c. 1895) was Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from April 1876 to 4 July 1879, and again from February 1881 to October 1881.Socorro Girón. Ponce, el teatro La Perla y La Campana de la Almudaina. Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1992. Page 169. Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Alcades.
First mayoral term (1876) During the first of his mayoral terms, Cartagena was mayor of Ponce from April 1876 to 4 July 1879.Socorro Guiron. Ponce, El Teatro La Perla, y la Campana de la Almudaina. Ponce Municipal Government. 1992. Page 169. Others who worked during his administration included Dr. Rafael del Valle, Dr. Manuel Pasarell, the journalist Mario Braschi, and historian Eduardo Neumann Gandía.Socorro Guiron. Ponce, El Teatro La Perla, y la Campana de la Almudaina. Ponce Municipal Government. 1992. Page 169.
Cartagena is best remembered for overseeing the installation of the clock on the front facade of Casa Alcadia. The now famous clock was brought from London and its installation was performed under the care of Julio E. Steinacker. The clock cost 1,000 Spanish pesos ($1,000 ($ in dollars)). It was installed on 13 August 1877, the same day that Ponce received the title of "City" by the Spanish Crown.Ponce: Notas para su Historia (Second Edition). Mariano Vidal Armstrong. Oficina Estatal de Conservación Histórica. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 1989. page 30. Accessed 19 February 2018. The construction of the Hospital Tricoche also occurred under Cartagena's administration,PONCE, P. R. Postcard Set Handcolored - The 'Tricoche' Hospital at Ponce - Mailed Ponce NOV 21, 1910. Wilbert Pagan Ayala. Retrieved 27 December 2011. and on 11 December 1878 Cartagena gave an inaugural speech for the opening of the hospital.Socorro Guiron. Ponce, El Teatro La Perla, y la Campana de la Almudaina. Ponce Municipal Government. 1992. Page 169.
Second mayoral term (1881) Unlike his multi-year mayoral term in 1876 to 1879, Cartagena governed the municipality of Ponce in 1881 for only 8 months, from February through the end of September.Socorro Guiron. Ponce, El Teatro La Perla, y la Campana de la Almudaina. Ponce Municipal Government. 1992. Page 169.
Honors There is a street in Urbanización Las Delicias of Barrio Magueyes in Ponce named after him.
References
Further reading Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliográfica Anotada. Second Edition. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 270. Item 1353. M. Ubeda y Delgado. Isla de Puerto Rico: estudio histórico, geográfico, y estadístico de la misma. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Establecimiento tipográfico de El Boletin. 1878. (Universidad de Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras)
See also
List of Puerto Ricans List of mayors of Ponce, Puerto Rico