Colón is a municipality and city in the Matanzas Province of Cuba. The municipality has an area of 547 km and a population of about 71,000. The city proper, with a population of about 44,000, is the third-largest one of its province.
History
The town was founded in 1836 under the name Nueva Bermeja. The railroad, arrived nearby the town still in 1843, reached it in 1851. In 1852, Fernando Diago, the owner of the sugar-mill Ponina, inaugurates the first public school in town. In 1859, it achieved the status of villa with the name Colón, after Christopher Columbus. The founder's name is don Martín José Zozaya, who founded the town in the former hacienda named La Bermeja. The deed to establish this town was signed in the city of Matanzas in 1836. At the time, don Martín set apart land for a cemetery and a church. Untile the 1977 administrative reform, the municipality was divided into the campos of Agüica, Este, Guareiras, Jacán, Laguna Grande, Oeste and Palmillas.
In 2004, the municipality of Colón had a population of 71,579. With a total area of, it has a population density of.
Architecture
The city of Colón, since its founding, has gone through different architectural styles, some of them on specific buildings and others that were emblematic in different stages, but left a very strong imprint that identifies this villa and ranging from Neoclassicism, through the Balloon Frame, Eclectic, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, until rationalism. It can be seen in its streets, well marked and different styles of its buildings. The peak of the neoclassicism can be admired in the Catholic temple founded December 8, 1872, and the Town Hall. In the late 1880s, as atypical and off note of the layout of the town, was built the Quinta de Tirso Mesa, an irrefutable example of the introduction of Balloon Frame and the phenomenon of acculturation in our architecture. Now This building is gone, but it has left a mark on the population still remembered for its beauty. The introduction of eclectic at Columbian architecture was made with the construction of the School of Arts and Crafts, built between October 16, 1911, and November 28, 1912. While not renouncing some neoclassical codes, in this style can be mentioned other constructions such as Ferrolana, Provincial Agricultural College, etc. The period 1930-1959 meant a lot to the city for two main reasons: the opening in 1930 of the section of the Carretera Central highway between Havana and Santa Clara, and the rise to mayor of José Manuel Gutiérrez Plans, under whose mandate several notable buildings appeared, such as the New Continental Hotel, resulting in a new architectural style in the city, Art Deco, with the Canal Theatre as its finest example. Between 1948 and 1959, rationalism makes its entrance into the city, and the best examples can be seen in the Santiago-Havana and Grand Charity hotels.
Economy
Colón's economy is centered around agriculture and stock raising. It is also an important railway center.
