Río Abajo, Utuado, Puerto Rico

Río Abajo is a barrio in the municipality of Utuado, Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 237.^[3][4][5] It is an isolated, rural barrio in the Cordillera Central (Puerto Rico), the mountain range that goes east to west across the center of Puerto Rico.

Río Abajo
Barrio
View of Río Abajo from bordering Río Arriba in Arecibo
Location of Río Abajo within the municipality of Utuado shown in red
Río Abajo Location of Puerto Rico
Coordinates: 18°18′59″N 66°41′36″W[1]
Commonwealth	Puerto Rico
Municipality	Utuado
Area [1]
• Total	2.31 sq mi (6.0 km2)
• Land	2.30 sq mi (6.0 km2)
• Water	0.01 sq mi (0.03 km2)
Elevation [2]	1,070 ft (330 m)
Population  (2010)
• Total	237
• Density	103/sq mi (40/km2)
	Source: 2010 Census
Time zone	UTC−4 (AST)

History

Río Abajo was in Spain's gazetteers^[6] until Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 and became an unincorporated territory of the United States. In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted a census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Río Abajo barrio was 1,235.^[7]

Hurricane Maria which struck Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, washed away the Río Abajo bridge and approximately 60 families were left isolated. Residents invented a zip line to bring food across until a temporary bridge was built.^[8] The construction of a permanent bridge was completed in March 2018.^[9][10][11]

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1900	1,235		—
1910	1,272		3.0%
1920	1,154		−9.3%
1930	1,294		12.1%
1940	1,776		37.2%
1950	1,227		−30.9%
1960	860		−29.9%
1970	757		−12.0%
1980	511		−32.5%
1990	404		−20.9%
2000	325		−19.6%
2010	237		−27.1%
U.S. Decennial Census 1899 (shown as 1900)[12] 1910-1930[13] 1930-1950[14] 1980-2000[15] 2010[16]

See also

• Puerto Rico portal

• List of communities in Puerto Rico

References

1. "US Gazetteer 2019". US Census. US Government.
2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Río Abajo barrio
3. Picó, Rafael; Buitrago de Santiago, Zayda; Berrios, Hector H. (1969). Nueva geografía de Puerto Rico: física, económica, y social, por Rafael Picó. Con la colaboración de Zayda Buitrago de Santiago y Héctor H. Berrios. San Juan Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de Puerto Rico,1969.
4. Gwillim Law (20 May 2015). Administrative Subdivisions of Countries: A Comprehensive World Reference, 1900 through 1998. McFarland. p. 300. ISBN 978-1-4766-0447-3. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
5. Puerto Rico: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts.pdf (PDF). U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau. 2010.
6. "Anuario del comercio, de la industria, de la magistratura y de la administración. 1881". Biblioteca Nacional de España (in Spanish). p. 1614. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
7. Joseph Prentiss Sanger; Henry Gannett; Walter Francis Willcox (1900). Informe sobre el censo de Puerto Rico, 1899, United States. War Dept. Porto Rico Census Office (in Spanish). Imprenta del gobierno. p. 161.
8. "Nearly 40 days after Hurricane Maria, one neighborhood in Puerto Rico's central mountains is still stranded | Miami Herald". Archived from the original on 2017-10-30.
9. "Hurricane Maria: How rural Utuado, Puerto Rico, survived isolated after the storm". ABC7 San Francisco. September 20, 2018.
10. Perdomo, Laura (December 7, 2018). "Rio Abajo Bridge in Utuado, One Year After Hurricane Maria". U.S. Bridge.
11. "Arrival of Critical Equipment Kicks Off Construction of New Rio Abajo Bridge | FEMA.gov". www.fema.gov.
12. "Report of the Census of Porto Rico 1899". War Department Office Director Census of Porto Rico. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
13. "Table 3-Population of Municipalities: 1930 1920 and 1910" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
14. "Table 4-Area and Population of Municipalities Urban and Rural: 1930 to 1950" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 30, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
15. "Table 2 Population and Housing Units: 1960 to 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 24, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
16. Puerto Rico: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts.pdf (PDF). U.S. Dept. of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration U.S. Census Bureau. 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2019-08-02.