Toa Alta () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

located in the northern coast of the island, north of Naranjito; south of

Dorado Dorado (, ) is a constellation in the Southern Sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the mahi-mahi (''Coryphaena hippurus''), which is known as ''dorado'' ("golden") in Sp ...

and

Toa Baja Toa Baja () is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the northern coast, north of Toa Alta and Bayamón; east of Dorado; and west of Cataño. Toa Baja is spread over five barrios, including Toa Baja Pueblo (the downtown area and ...

; east of Vega Alta and Corozal; and west of Bayamón. Toa Alta is spread over eight barrios and Toa Alta Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo metropolitan statistical area. There are nine barrios in Toa Alta and altogether in 2020 had a population of 66,852. Río de la Plata, is a large river that runs through Toa Alta. Toa Alta celebrates its patron saint festival in May.

History

Toa Alta is located west of the capital city of

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

and was founded in 1751, making it one of the oldest towns on the main island of Puerto Rico. The construction of the San Fernando Rey Church in the main town square began in 1752. It is popularly said that the name Toa Alta comes from the

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

word for mother or fertility, ''Thoa''. Most likely the word ''toa'' comes from the Taino word for ''valley'' or ''mountain''; the region is also known as ''Valle del Toa'' (Toa Valley). Over the years, agriculture became an important economic force in the area. At the peak of the agricultural economy, the town was also known as the ''"Granja de los Reyes Católicos"'' (the Farm of the Catholic Monarchs). The town is also called ''Ciudad del Josco''. The town is commonly known by its nickname ''La Cuna de los Poetas'', or "Cradle of Poets", due to the numerous

Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

poets born there, such as

Abelardo Díaz Alfaro Abelardo Díaz Alfaro (July 24, 1916 – July 22, 1999) was an author from Puerto Rico who achieved great fame throughout Latin America during the 1940s. His book ''Campo Alegre'' is a text that has been studied at schools in Austria, Austral ...

and the musician Tomás "Masso" Rivera.

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

on September 20, 2017 triggered numerous landslides in Toa Alta. Many homes and roads in Toa Alta were destroyed by the hurricane.

Flood control project

In mid 2018, the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

announced it would be undertaking a major

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

project of a river that often causes flooding in Toa Alta,

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (; ), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...

Geography

Toa Alta is located on the Northern Coastal Plain in the

Northern Karst The Northern Karst Belt (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Cinturón del Carso Norteño'') is a limestone karst landscape located in the northwestern region of Puerto Rico. A karst is a topographical zone formed by the dissolution of soluble porous roc ...

zone.

Barrios

Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Toa Alta is subdivided into barrios. The municipal buildings, central square and large Catholic church are located in a barrio referred to as . #

Contorno Italian meal structure is typical of the European Mediterranean region and differs from that of Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe, although it still often consists of breakfast (''colazione''), lunch (''pranzo''), and supper (''cena''). Ho ...

# Galateo # Mucarabones # Ortíz # Piñas # Quebrada Arenas #

Quebrada Cruz Quebrada Cruz is a barrio in the municipality of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 5,343 living in over 30 sectors. History Quebrada Cruz was in Spain's gazetteers until Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Span ...

Río Lajas The Lajas River () is a river in Maricao, Puerto Rico. See also *List of rivers of Puerto Rico List of rivers in Puerto Rico ( U.S. Commonwealth), sorted by drainage basin and then alphabetically. There are 47 main rivers and 24 lagoons or rese ...

Toa Alta barrio-pueblo Toa Alta barrio-pueblo is a barrio and the administrative center (seat) of Toa Alta, a municipality of Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 397. As was customary in Spain, in Puerto Rico, the municipality has a barrio called ''pueblo'' which ...

Sectors

Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions) are further subdivided into smaller areas called (''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 Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

. 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 Toa Alta: Comunidad Acerolas, Sector Cuba Libre, Sector La Prá, Villa del Río, Villa Josco, and Villa Juventud.

Demographics

Tourism

Landmarks and places of interest

*Legendary tree ''

Bala de Cañón ''Couroupita nicaraguarensis'' (the epithet often spelled as ''nicaraguensis''), the bala de cañón, coco de mono, paraíso, zapote de mico, or zapote de mono, is a species of woody plant in the family Lecythidaceae. It is found in Colombia, Cos ...

'' *Tomás "Maso" Rivera Municipal Theatre *Tomás "Maso" Rivera Statue *Egozcué Square public plaza *San Fernando Rey Parish Church *Villa Tropical Recreation Center *Plaza Aquarium Mall *Valle ''El Toa''

Culture

Festivals and events

Toa Alta celebrates its

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

festival in May. The is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment. or the Festival of the Mechanical Bull is held in October. Other festivals and events celebrated in Toa Alta include La Chopa Marathon, held in March, and Folk Music Festival, held in November.

Government

All municipalities in Puerto Rico are administered by a mayor, elected every four years. The current mayor of Toa Alta is Clemente Agosto, of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). He was first elected at the 2012 general elections. The city belongs to the Puerto Rico Senatorial district II, which is represented by two senators.

Migdalia Padilla Migdalia Padilla Alvelo is a Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican politician and Senator. She has been a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico since 2000. Early years and studies Migdalia Padilla was born in Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, Barranquitas, P ...

and

Carmelo Ríos Santiago Carmelo Javier Ríos Santiago (born May 21, 1973, in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican politician, lawyer and senator. He has been a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico since 2005. Early years and studies Carmelo Ríos was born on May 2 ...

have served as District Senators since 2005.

Transportation

There are 16 bridges in Toa Alta. In January, 2019 the mayor of Toa Alta fought for the reopening of highway #861, which, he stated, was closed without warning by Puerto Rico Public Works.

Symbols

The has an official flag and coat of arms.

Flag

Horizontally divided in three, the bottom and top red stripes are double the size of the center yellow stripe. In the upper left corner is a yellow, eight-point star. The original design was elaborated by professor Herman E. Perez and adopted by the City Council in 1983.

Coat of arms

The shield in gold, a red board with a silver sword topped with a gold crown of the same metal, to each side two small shields in red, the right-hand one with a tower in gold with a crescent moon on the top and the left-hand one with a gold eight point star, a five tower crown lined in black with red openings. The motto is ''Non Deserit Alta'' and Professor Herman E. Pérez included it in the coat of arms so that present and future generations will remember to “not abandon higher principles and values”.

Education

There are several public and private schools in Toa Alta and public education is handled by the

Puerto Rico Department of Education The Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE; ) is one of five jurisdiction-wide public education systems in the United States, with Hawaii, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa being the others. The PRDOE is the state education ...

Elementary schools

*Alejandro Junior Cruz *Heraclio Rivera Colón *José de Diego *José María del Valle *Luis Muñoz Rivera *Manuel Velilla *María C. Osorio *Merced Marcano *Secundino Díaz *Violanta Jiménez *Virgilio Morales

Middle and junior high schools

*José Pablo Morales *Abelardo Díaz Alfaro *Felipe Díaz González

High schools

*Adela Rolón Fuentes *Nicolás Sevilla *Tomás "Maso" Rivera Morales

Private schools

*Academia Cristiana Yarah *Colegio Doriber

Notable natives and residents

*Sergeants José Díaz and Francisco Díaz – defended Puerto Rico from a British invasion in 1797 *

Dayanara Torres Dayanara Torres Delgado (born October 28, 1974) is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, singer, model, and beauty queen who won the Miss Universe 1993 pageant. and she was the third Puerto Rican to win Miss Universe since Marisol Malaret in 1970 and ...

Delgado – Miss Universe 1993 *

Eddie Santiago Eddie Santiago (born Eduardo Santiago Rodríguez, August 18, 1955) is a salsa singer from Puerto Rico. He is one of the great figures of this musical genre, with popular songs such as “Me Haces Falta Tú" on Soy el Mismo, “Lluvia" on Sigo ...

- Platinum selling Salsa and Merengue recording artist

References

External links

Toa Alta and its barrios, United States Census Bureau
{{Authority control Municipalities of Puerto Rico San Juan–Caguas–Guaynabo metropolitan area Populated places established in 1751 1750s establishments in the Spanish West Indies 1751 establishments in the Spanish Empire 1750s in Puerto Rico