Andrés Grillasca Salas (6 January 1888 – 19 December 1973Certificado de Defunción. Area 152, Year 1973, Registry 56, Number 1017. Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico. Division del Registro Demográfico y Estadísticas. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885–2001 for Andres Grillasca Salas: Defunciones (Deaths), Ponce, Defunciones 1973–1975, t. 207–211. Retrieved 3 February 2019.) was a Puerto Rican farmer from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, and Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 2 January 1941 to 9 May 1956. Until the 1990s administration of Rafael Cordero Santiago, Grillasca Salas had the distinction of being the longest-serving mayor of the city (16 years).Escuela Acreditada Andrés Grillasca Salas. Accessed 3 February 2019. He was known to always dress in white clothes.Abre Instituto Ponceño de Síndrome Down. Reinaldo Millán La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 31. Issue 1575. Page 18. 5 February 2014.
Early years Grillasca Salas was born in the neighboring town of AdjuntasBirthplace in 1888.Date of Birth and Death He was the son of Francisco Grillasca and Jesusa Salas. He married Angela Trani.Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885–2001 for Andres Grillasca Salas: Defunciones (Deaths), Ponce, Defunciones 1973–1975, t. 207–211. Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico. Division del Registro Demográfico y Estadísticas. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
Political life Grillasca Salas defeated future governor of Puerto Rico Luis A. Ferre in the bid for mayor of Ponce in 1940.El Boricua Puerto Rican Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Juan Morel Campos Music Institute In 1947 Grillasca established the Escuela Libre de Música de Ponce.Free School of Music The school is now known as the Juan Morel Campos Music Institute.
Sports and recreational facilities
Grillasca Salas also had an interest in sports, and in 1949 he inaugurated the Francisco Montaner Stadium in Ponce. He also established a fund for the creation of a second new sports venue in Ponce. To accomplish it, he established a special contribution for every sports activity held in the city. Still short of funds, the project was not developed for many years. However, during the administration of mayor Eduardo Ruberté Bisó (1964–1968), new interest in the project developed and construction started on what was then called the Ponce Coliseum. It was later renamed the Juan "Pachín" Vicens Auditorium, in honor of the greatest figure in Ponce basketball.
Abolition Park Grillasca Salas is also remembered for building, in 1956, what is to this day the only monument in the Antilles dedicated to the abolition of slavery. The monument is now surrounded by a park with graceful gardens and is located next to an outdoors acoustic amphitheater, and is called Abolition Park.MundoBoricua Retrieved 28 June 2009.Abolition Park Retrieved 29 July 2009.
Death, honors, and legacy Grillasca Salas died in Ponce on 19 December 1973.Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885–2001 for Andres Grillasca Salas: Defunciones (Deaths), Ponce, Defunciones 1973–1975, t. 207–211. Accessed 3 February 2019. He was 85 years old. The cause of his death was "cerebral arteriosclerosis with terminal pneumonia."Certificado de Defunción. Area 152, Year 1973, Registry 56, Number 1017. Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico. Division del Registro Demográfico y Estadísticas. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885–2001 for Andres Grillasca Salas: Defunciones (Deaths), Ponce, Defunciones 1973–1975, t. 207–211. Retrieved 3 February 2019. He was buried at Cementerio Civil de Ponce.
Grillasca Salas is honored at Ponce's Park of Illustrious Ponce Citizens. Only six, of over 100 Ponce mayors, are honored there.Politics. TravelPonce. Retrieved 18 June 2012. He is remembered as a mayor who fought for the autonomy of the municipality of Ponce from the centralization forces at the Central Government in San Juan.Carmelo Rosario Natal. Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945–2002. Published by Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 11. In Ponce, there is a private housing development named after him ("Villa Grillasca"), as well as a hospital, Hospital Oncologico Andres Grillasca, named in his honor.Historia del HOAG. HOAG. 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
See also Ponce, Puerto Rico List of Puerto Ricans List of mayors of Ponce, Puerto Rico
References
Further reading El Cacique, by Riggin Dapena Vidal. 212 pages. Published by Milagros G. Mayoral, 1996. (LCCN: 97121968) Coamo, P. R. : Imprenta Costa. Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliográfica Anotada. Second Edition. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. pp. 321. Item 1609. Victor Bono Rodriguez. "La obra de la actual administración municipal de Ponce." El Dia. 18 Diciembre 1949. pp. 51–53.