Benito Juarez Park renovation...

[sharky60]

word of the Plaza being "renovated" is causing quite a stir on Facebook today... progress? or cultural intrusion? what do you think?
https://www.facebook.com/CozumelSun/posts/1474484349504643

 

[Brules]

I dont think making it look nicer will change the facts that:

1) the cruise ships have developed their own shopping areas to further fleece every cent they can from their own passengers
2) the cruise ships tell their people downtown is not safe
3) that the shops on the plaza and the street front are mostly a bunch of thieves looking to fleece what little there is left out of the cruise ship pod peoples pockets

Redoing the plza won't help anyone really except the pirates that already rent/own space there.

 

[gopbroek]

I wouldn’t under estimate the economic gains here. With $95M MEX on the line I am sure some pretty creative plans to skim the project are already in the works. I doubt the finished project will look anything near architectural drawing nor have its desired effect.

If they really want to re-vitalize the downtown, allow an inexpensive bus service between the cruise ship port and downtown, which would require challenging the taxi mafia. Face it, even ‘Pod’ people are human beings and are aware of it when they are being ripped off by the taxi’s, this is their first impression of Cozumel, small wonder many do not venture past the port area.

Even better, instead of expanding Puerta Maya into the national park, tear out the existing pier (and the International pier) using the rubble to create an artificial reef north or Paradise and expand the downtown Pier to handle up to 7 ships.

 

[El Graduado]

progress? or cultural intrusion?
https://www.facebook.com/CozumelSun/posts/1474484349504643

The plaza in Cozumel is just like the palm trees on the malecon; it is constantly being uprooted and replaced.

The first plaza was ordered built Governor Barbachano on November 21, 1849: “The streets shall be laid out twelve varas wide above by twenty varas long, each paralleling the four sides of the main square, giving the square the size necessary to embrace the church, house of municipal government, barracks and school.” This was done, but the area that was defined by the four streets remained empty for decades. In February, 1877, Alice Dixon LePlongeon visited Cozumel for several weeks and wrote about the plaza: “The centre of the village of St. Miguel is an immense grass-grown square, bounded on the west by the sea, on the east by a thatched church, and on north and south by thatched dwellings. The rest of the village is scattered along the beach and a little way back, not far, for there are only five hundred inhabitants. Having no tent to pitch, we emphatically insisted on a house, and were at last allowed to take possession of a one-room residence at the southeast corner of the square. It was gloomy, damp, dirty; the floor thickly strewn with dry cocoa-nuts. It had two doors but no window.”


Above: Downtown around 1911.

About 1900, the plaza was finally landscaped, but left mostly unpaved. On April 2, 1910, the cornerstone of the clock tower was laid down. The tower was inaugurated on September 15, 1910, but the clockworks weren’t installed until 1911. This tower has undergone several remodels over its life and the look of it today is far from what it looked like originally.


Above: Plaza at street level.

In 1915, the plaza was used as a corral to house Coronel Isaías Zamarripas’ cavalry. It was during this visit that Col. Zamarripa burned down the church on the square. The church was later rebuilt at other locations a couple more times before the current iteration was built on the corner of 10^th and Juarez by the Maryknolls in 1945-6.


Above: Installing a bust of Juarez.

After that, the plaza was paved and park benches were donated by various unions and businesses and a statue of a mother nursing her child was erected.


Above: Plaza in 1960.

In the 1970s, more work and changes were done in the center of the plaza and another statue of Benito Juarez was installed. The streets encircling the plaza were still open to traffic at that time and you drive (and park!) all around it. Where the fountain now stands between Las Palmeras and the New Diamonds International hole-in-the-ground, there used to be outdoor handicraft market selling black coral and shells.


Above: Plaza in 1970s.


In 1978, the concrete pavement was torn up and large slabs of stone were used to cover the plaza. Later, the old Benito Juarez school, the Ayuntamiento, the jail, and the museum were torn down and the Plaza del Sol erected in their place.

After that, the old worn-smooth benches were removed, the statue of the nursing mother banished, and a new bust of Juarez installed along with a central kiosk. The streets surrounding the plaza were closed off to traffic.

This arrangement lasted until a little over a decade ago, when the stone paving of the plaza was torn out and it was repaved the way it is now (anti-baby-buggy, anti-skates).

The Juarez Plaza as it stands today is not a historical structure, but it is a historical location. It will continue to change, just as everything around it has changed and continues to change. The space where Las Palmeras now stands was once the municipal market. The old Plaza Siria will now be a new Diamonds International. Nothing is constant except change.

EverythingCozumel.com Maps, Books and well-researched articles on Cozumel.

 

[Augustus]

Sad, the money for this could be better spent elsewhere.

 

[cvchief]

I love the history lesson. EG, after you put all the pics in your post, give it a few seconds and then click on each one and it should give you a choice to keep the original size, so your pics stay 'big' in the text. Then post it. (they are so neat, they should be big!!)

 

[gopbroek]

Lets keep this thread going, I meant to go up stairs in Plaza Del Sol and take pictures of the square after they ripped it up a couple weeks back, but forgot. I went down for Gritto Delores and the square was there, two weeks later it was gone. Could someone go upstairs at Plaza del Sol and snap a couple pictures and post them? It would be nice to see monthly photos and watch how the new square develops..... or not.

 

[El Graduado]

I came across these two images and thought they were interesting. The first one is a view of the old Mercado Municipal in 1960, looking at it from Avenida Juarez standing near the middle of the block looking to the southwest. If you stood in the same place today, you would see Mimi's Becerra's gift store that is on the northeast corner of Las Palmeras and the little patio on the northeast side of Las Palmeras. On the far left edge of this photo, you can see three steps leading up to the old plaza.

The second photo was taken inside the Mercado Municipal at its inauguration in 1960. That is Presidente Adolfo Lopez Mateos checking out the dried starfish, cleaned shells, and varnished turtles & lobster.

This style of building was popular here for a while; we still have the Telegrafos and Correos building and Don Nassim's "new" house as examples.

 

[cvchief]

Awesome photos. Keep it comin'!!

 

[Mike]

As long as you can still buy authentic Cuban cigars in the Plaza that are made in South America, and authentic Mayan and Mexican souvenirs that were made in China, I think the authenticity of the plaza will still remain.