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Arroyo.- When you visit Arroyo, you can immediately see the historical essence in each structure that make up the old town. Among them is their renowned Malecón Paseo Las Américas, from which the town’s foundation and economic peak began in the mid-19th century.

Arroyo was known as “La Pequeña París” (“Little Paris”) during its peak commercial port activity due to the large number of French immigrants and other European nationalities who arrived there. The town retains that patina in the collective memory of the area for its ruined windmills of La Berdedera and its La Milagrosa residential area, among other structures, which narrate the commercial legacy that developed and has remained there for the visitor’s enjoyment.

“These mills were used to grind the sugar cane that was collected here from several sugar mills in the town. Without a doubt, the main source of Arroyo’s economy was the sugar cane industry. Our most recent memory of it is the defunct Lafayette sugar mill, which began operations by 1895 and closed its doors in 1973,” said historian and secretary of the Centro Cultural Arroyano (Arroyo Cultural Center), Justo Echevarría.

Apart from the mills and their historical importance, Arroyo has several points of interest such as the Samuel B. Morse Monument. It is dedicated to the painter and pioneer in the industrialization of the telegraph. He is the one credited in making Arroyo the first town in Puerto Rico to possess the new communication system by 1859.

“Morse installed the first telegraph communication line between the mansion where his eldest daughter, Susan Morse, lived, and the warehouse where her husband worked on a beach in Arroyo, the Danish man Edward Lind. He, in turn, was the owner of Hacienda La Enriqueta. They were a wealthy couple from the town, and they had big sugar, molasses, and rum production,” explained the head of the Antigua Aduana Museum, Digna Fontánez-Santiago.

After a promotional tour in Europe, Morse arrived in Puerto Rico in 1858 with the intention of getting to know his daughter’s quality of life. She had married the Danish landowner two years before and had settled in Arroyo. “Seeing the distance between the residence and the warehouse, Morse decides (to rectify that) and inaugurates the telegraph line on March 1, 1859. A historic moment for the island because from there on, the telegraph system in Puerto Rico began to expand to other towns,” said Fontánez-Santiago.

Another place that has an interesting history is the Antigua Aduana building, located on Calle Morse. It currently houses a permanent exhibition of old photos of the city and objects linked to the history of the town. It also has two rooms that are intended for visual arts traveling exhibitions carrying different themes.

“The building was used in the 19th century as an administrative center for everything that came in and out, and commercial negotiations that took place in the port. In 1993 the museum opens as we know it today. It’s where various artistic, educational, cultural activities, concerts and book presentations are carried out, among many other things surrounding the cultural work of Arroyo and of the entire Island. People can visit us freely from Monday to Friday, from 8:00 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon,” explained the museum manager.

Another place of interest in this town is the Teatro Renacimiento (Renaissance Theatre). It is located steps away from the Antigua Aduana Museum. It was built in 1920 under the name of “Faust” and is currently used for civic, cultural events and plays.

On the same block is the Museo del Deporte Arroyano (Arroyo Sports Museum), with 6 exhibition rooms on various sports and in which 114 sports stars have been exalted in the town.

As part of the tour on the municipality’s important places, in the vicinity of Punta Guilarte is the Punta Figura lighthouse, built in 1893. It is currently inoperative after the damage it has suffered by atmospheric phenomena and corrosion by saltpeter. The visitor, however, can appreciate its old structure from afar. It was one of a kind at the time of its foundation due to its ornaments that had not been seen before in other similar structures throughout the Island.