Aguadilla (, ), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla is spread over 15 barrios and Aguadilla Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is a principal city and core of the Aguadilla-Isabela-San Sebastián Metropolitan Statistical Area. This region was already inhabited and known as Aguadilla before 1770. Nevertheless, according to Dr. Agustín Stahl in his Foundation of Aguadilla, it was not until 1780 that the town was officially founded. The construction of a new church and the proceedings to become an independent village began in 1775.
Etymology and nicknames
left|thumb|[[El Parterre|Ojo de Agua, water spring located in downtown (), which gives the municipality one of its nicknames]]
Aguadilla is a shortening of the town's original name San Carlos de La Aguadilla. The name Aguadilla is a diminutive of Aguada, which is the name of the town and municipality located to the south. Some of the municipality's nicknames are: Jardín del Atlántico ("Garden of the Atlantic"), Pueblo de los Tiburones ("Shark Town") and La Villa del Ojo de Agua ("Villa of the Water Spring") after the natural water spring that was used by early settlers and Spanish soldiers as a water source which is now located in El Parterre Square in Aguadilla Pueblo.
History
Pre-Columbian settlements and foundation
According to sources, a Taíno settlement called Aymamón was located close to the Culebrinas River.
The present territory of Aguadilla was originally part of the territory of Aguada. Movement towards creating a separate municipality began as early as 1736. A resident of Aguada named Pedro de Arce wrote about the matter to the Spanish crown. In this document, widespread enthusiasm among the residents of the Aguadilla barrio in support for the idea is claimed. Following the celebrations, a larger Church began being built. In 1776, Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra in his description of the towns of the island, mentioned it as the "new Town of San Carlos de La Aguadilla."
But it was not until 1780 that the territory was properly segregated, making the founding of the town official. Originally, Aguadilla was constituted by the Victoria and Higüey barrios. The population in the town of Aguadilla continued to increase constantly mainly due to its excellent port and strategic location in the route of the boats. In 1776, when Santo Domingo became independent for the first time, the loyalists of Spanish descent emigrated to Puerto Rico, mainly to Aguadilla, which caused the population to continue increasing significantly.
19th Century, becoming a Loyal Village
The early decades of the 19th Century brought with them several incidents that were a hindrance to the town economy, beginning with a large scale fire that destroyed most of the houses and had lasting repercussions. In 1825, hurricane Santa Ana struck Puerto Rico, destroying most of Aguadilla's orange farms.
Don Pedro Tomás de Córdova mentions the road of Aguadilla formed by Punta Borinquen and San Francisco, as the "anchorage of the ships that travel from Europe to Havana and Mexico". He adds that its "port is the most frequented in the Island due to the proportions that it offers to refresh all class of ship." After the Pedro J. Zamora Hospital opened in 1976, this facility became a private school. Train No. 3 was traveling from San Juan to Ponce carrying passengers to their different hometowns for the island general elections to be held that same day. It stopped at the Jiménez Station in Aguadilla for a routine engineer and boilerman exchange with Train No. 4 which was heading to San Juan.
The territorial organization of Aguadilla did not change, until 1948, when the Puerto Rico Planning, Urbanization, and Zoning Board prepared the map of the city and its barrios, and following instructions of city authorities, Higüey and parts of Caimital Alto barrios are annexed to Downtown Aguadilla. During that decade, there had been a territorial dispute with Aguada, when that municipality claimed that the area belonging to Parque Colón was on their side of the Culebrinas river. The matter became contentious when a diversion was made of the original route in 1931, with Aguada mayor Julio César Román basing its complain on Law 60-1945, preparing a memorial with historical maps and other documents supporting its position that the old geographic divisions remained, which was presented before the board on
September 20, 1946. The agency called for public hearings and a visual inspection, but emphasized that it had the sole jurisdiction to decide the outcome. In 1971, Aguadilla lost its spot as Senatorial District Head following an electoral reform that included it in the new Mayagüez-Aguadilla District. During that decade, the municipality emphasized industry, with a facility that fabricated aviation parts being established at the base's hangars in 1979. Five years earlier, an agreement to establish a DeLorean Motor Company plant at Calero was publicly announced, but the facility was ultimately built at Northern Ireland. a 150-room hotel with a casino and the first Marriott in Puerto Rico outside of the San Juan Metropolitan Area.
The area which formerly housed Ramey also hosts the University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla and the Friedrich Froebel Bilingual School (K-9). The high school became Ramey Job Corps Campus and the elementary school became the Esther Feliciano Mendoza Middle School. Centro de Adiestramiento y Bellas Artes (CABA) since 1979 has been the only public school of arts in Puerto Rico (7–12). Ramey is also the site of the Ramey Skating Park and a new mariposario (butterfly farm) and the Ramey Shopping Center.
By 1980, the population of Agadilla had risen to more than 54,600 residents, most of which lived in the urban areas of the municipality. In Aguadilla
10 inches
of rain were recorded and its more than 54,000 residents were left with no electrical power.
The four radar systems used by the Federal Aviation Administration for flights in and around Puerto Rico were damaged by Hurricane Maria, and it took nearly two weeks to fix them. One of the radar systems is located in Aguadilla.
The 2020s
In recent years, the town has gathered some international celebrity due to the release of a Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) footage captured by a Customs and Patrol aircraft near Rafael Hernández Airport on April 26, 2013, after the air traffic tower reported sighting a pinkish glowing orb flying near the facility. The 5-minute long thermal sequence was captured with a FLIR camera and released by the agency in September 2023, one of several acknowledged by the government as filmed by an official source since 2018, becoming colloquially known as “The Aguadilla UFO Incident”. Initially sent to Homeland Security for analysis, the film was then remitted to the Air Force before ultimately being released to civilian groups interested in the topic. The Scientific Coalition for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (SCU) has called it the "most compelling" footage of the anomalous aerial activity. Since then, the footage has been replayed in several shows covering fringe topics, mostly aired in network television such as the History Channel, National Geographic and Discovery Channel. Debate remains ongoing, with Chinese lanterns, drones, birds and balloons being proposed as potential explanations by skeptics.
In September 2024, the municipal government filed a lawsuit against private consortium LUMA Energy, citing collective losses related to the corporation's mismanagement of the energy distribution system.
Geography
Aguadilla is located in the northwest coast of the island of Puerto Rico, in the Western Coastal Plains. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the north, the municipalities of Isabela on the east, and Moca and Aguada in the south.
The area of the municipality is 35.5 square miles. It is mostly plain, with some notable hills being Jiménez (728 feet) and Viñet (689 feet). It has only one river, the Culebrinas, which separates Aguadilla from Aguada. Also, Cedro Creek which separates Aguadilla from Isabela in the north.
- Aguacate
- Aguadilla barrio-pueblo
- Arenales
- Borinquen
- Caimital Alto
- Caimital Bajo
- Camaceyes
- Ceiba Alta
- Ceiba Baja
- Corrales
- Guerrero
- Maleza Alta
- Maleza Baja
- Montaña
- Palmar
- Victoria
Sectors
thumb|A structure is used for flood-control in , a Special Community in Aguadilla.
Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions) in turn are further subdivided into smaller local populated place areas/units called sectores (which means sectors in English). The types of sectores may vary, from normally sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others.
Special Communities
(Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing a certain amount of social exclusion. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Aguadilla: , and .
Temperature of sea
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Economy
thumb|170px|An entrance to [[Aguadilla Mall]]
The city is currently home to a variety of industrial and pharmaceutical plants such as LifeScan, Symmetricom, Honeywell, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Most of them are located at San Antonio Technological Park. The airport has Lufthansa Technik, while others like Suiza Dairy, Lockheed Martin and Productos La Aguadillana are located in Camaseyes Industrial Park. Other industries that are based in Aguadilla are rubber, plastics, leather, textiles, steel, wood, machinery, and food processing.
thumb|"Pintalto" project in Cerro Cabrera
In 2018, Suiza Dairy, a milk brand, opened a plant in Aguadilla at the cost of $40,000,000 United States dollars. The plant is expected to earn $160,000,000 US dollars in the period from 2018 to 2038.
In 2019, Aguadilla received the City Livability Award from the United States Conference of Mayors and honored the efforts spearheaded by Carlos Méndez Martínez. Specifically mentioned was "Pintalto", a project where Cerro Cabrero area, in the downtown area of Aguadilla was painted in rich, lively colors.
Tourism
thumb|Schoolyards Beach, surf spot in Aguadilla
Aguadilla is part of the Porta del Sol touristic region in Puerto Rico. The Porta del Sol website highlights Aguadilla's beaches for surfing.
According to the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Aguadilla has the most beaches on the island, with nineteen in total. Some of the beaches are considered among the best for surfing, like Surfer's Beach, Gas Chambers, Crash Boat, Wilderness, among others. Because of this, Aguadilla has served as host to surfing competitions, like the ISA World Championship in 1988.
Other attractions of the town are Las Cascadas Water Park and the Aguadilla Ice Skating Arena, which is the only ice skating complex in the Caribbean.
Landmarks and places of interest
There are nine places in Aguadilla listed on the US National Register of Historic Places:
- Old Urban Cemetery
- District Courthouse (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico)
- Punta Borinquen Light
- – Church San Carlos Borromeo
- Cardona Residence
- López Residence
Other places of interest in Aguadilla include:
- Aguadilla City Hall – originally built in 1918. Reconstructed after the 1918 earthquake.
- Banyan Treehouse – wooden house around a banyan tree (none of its parts touch the tree)
- , a fountain
- Christopher Columbus Monument – a monument which consists of a cross originally made of marble, and had to be rebuilt after the earthquake.
- , a park
- Fisherman's Monument
- , a square
- (The Waterfalls) Water Park (Closed after Hurricane Maria in 2017)
- Old Sugar Pier of Aguadilla
- Punta Borinquen Golf Course – an 18-hole golf course, originally built for President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
- Punta Borinquen Lighthouse and ruins
- Rafael Hernández Monument
- Rafael Hernández Square
- Ramey Skate Park, a skatepark at the Ramey Military Base
- Youth Fountain at Park
To stimulate local tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic in Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company launched the Voy Turistiendo ("I'm Touring") campaign in 2021. The campaign featured a passport book with a page for each municipality. The Aguadilla passport page lists Crash Boat Beach, Survival Beach, Rompeolas Beach, and Peña Blanca Beach as places of interest for locals.
Beaches
thumb|View from Rompeolas Bar and Grill, at Rompeolas Beach in Aguadilla
There are 32 beaches in Aguadilla. Some of the more well-known beaches include:
- Balneario Municipal de Aguadilla (GNIS ID 1990599)
- Playa La Ruina (GNIS ID 1991881) also called Wilderness Beach or Las Ruinas ("The Ruins" in English)
- Playa Punta Borinquen (GNIS ID 1991891)
- Crash Boat Beach
- Survival Beach
- Surfer's Beach
- Rompeolas Beach / Rompeolas Beach North also known as
Culture
Festivals and events
Aguadilla celebrates its patron saint festival in October. The is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment.
- Kite Festival – Held in April, it includes kiosks, music, and kite flying.
- Fiestas San Antonio – April
- Verbena de Corrales – May
- Beach Festival – June
- Festival del Atún – Celebrated in July, it is a festival dedicated to the fishing of the tuna.
- Festival de la Música – July
Sports
Aguadilla is home to several professional and amateur sports teams. The most notable are the Aguadilla Divas of the Female Superior Volleyball League, and the Aguadilla Sharks of the Superior Baseball League (Double-A). The Divas play their home games in the Luis T. Díaz Coliseum in Downtown Aguadilla from January to March, while the Sharks play their home games at Luis A. Canena Márquez Stadium from February to May.
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| Luis A. Canena Márquez Stadium
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! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: center;" | Aguadilla Divas
| Female Superior Volleyball League
| Volleyball
| Luis T. Diaz Coliseum
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Aguadilla also had a professional basketball team called the Aguadilla Sharks, that played for the BSN league. This team was merged into the Cangrejeros de Santurce in 1998.
Aguadilla is also a place where many famous baseball players originate from. There are plans for a future ECHL Minor League Hockey franchise for the city.
Communication
Radio
- WABA WABA La Grande 850AM is located in Aguadilla.
- WWNA better known as Radio Una 1340AM is located in Aguadilla.
- WVOZ WAPA Radio frequency 1580AM is located in Aguadilla.
Television
- WOLE-TV 12.
- WELU is a religious broadcast company.
- WSJP-LD CW 18 is a CW Television Network affiliated station.