The History of Cuba, vol. 5

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

Toward the close of the year 1519, however, the colonists evidently disapproved of Velasquez’s selection and moved their town across to the north coast of the Island at the mouth of the Almandares, where northeasterly winds made the summers more agreeable. This little stream, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, had a depth of twelve or fifteen feet at the mouth, sufficient for the caravels of those days. But some of the City Fathers, in their wanderings to the eastward, found the beautiful bay, then known as Carena. A prophetic glimpse into the future may have furnished the motive for another change; at any rate a year later they picked up their household fixtures, carrying with them the town records, and established the City where it now stands, on the eastern shores of one of the finest land locked harbors in the world. In 1556 Havana became the capital of Cuba, the rendezvous of all Spanish fleets in the Occident, as well as the key to the Gulf of Mexico.

Havana in the early days of the 16th century consisted of several groups or clusters of palm thatched huts, not far from the bay, with little that could suggest a city in embryo. As in all cities built by the Spaniards in the New World, the first permanent buildings were churches and monasteries erected for the benefit of the Catholic clergy and built, as a rule, of adobe or mamposteria, with walls two or three feet in thickness. The material used was a mixture of rock, earth and sand, inclosed in facings of plaster. Many of them were decorated with crude figures and images of saints popular in the community.

Later, quarries of soft limestone were found in abundance, and from these, blocks were easily cut which, after exposure to the atmosphere, formed a hard, durable building material. The coral rock of which both Morro and Cabañas were built was taken from old quarries scattered along the north shore from Morro eastward. From these quarries came also the stone that built the spacious San Francisco Convent, occupied today by the Central post office.

As in all Spanish towns, in the New World at least, a plaza or open square formed the center from which the principal streets radiated. On the eastern side of the plaza of Havana, in front of La Fuerza, was erected in after years El Templete, in honor of the first mass held by the inhabitants of Havana, which took place under a giant ceiba growing close to the shore of the harbor, in 1519.

Nearly all of the permanent structures in Havana, up to the middle of the 17th century, were located on or near the water front, some distance in from La Punta. Many of these, including La Fuerza, the San Francisco convent, the old cathedral and La Maestranza, were built of coral limestone cemented with a mixture the formula for which is said to have been lost, but which in these buildings has endured the wear of centuries. Excellent clay for making tile and brick was later found not far south of the City, so that the more pretentious buildings were covered with roofs of the criolla tiles that are still common throughout all Latin America.

Before the middle of the 15th century, the clearing in which Havana was located was extended out as far as the street now known as Monserrate, running from the Gulf front across to the southwestern extension of the bay. In 1663 a splendid wall was begun along this line and completed with the help of slaves in 1740. It ran almost north and south, inclosing the city on the west, and protected it from all attacks coming from the land side. This wall was twenty feet in height and twelve feet thick at the base, surmounted at frequent intervals by quaint round-topped turrets. It had its angles, bastions and points of vantage for defensive purposes, the work, according to experts, representing a very high degree of engineering ability on the part of those who planned it.

With the exception of one angle and its turret, which stands in front of the new Presidential Palace, the old walls were removed in 1902, thus depriving Havana of perhaps the most picturesque feature of the ancient city.

Just in front of this wall on the west, a wide clearing was made to prevent surprise attacks from the forests beyond. With the felling of the trees, grass soon grew along its entire length, hence the name Prado, which means meadow, became permanently attached to it, and so the green lawn in front of the old walls of the 17th century was transformed two hundred years later into Havana’s most aristocratic avenue.

The principal thoroughfare, leading from the southern side of the Plaza de Armas to the Prado, was called Obispo or Bishop Street, which name it still retains. It is said that the first Bishop of Havana was in the habit of taking his daily walk out along this road to the main gate of the City; hence the name.

Beginning at the water front and running from La Fuerza west, parallel to Obispo, is O’Reilly Street, named in honor of one of Cuba’s most energetic Governors-General, who controlled the affairs of Havana in 1763, and who was, as the name suggests, of Irish antecedents. Just north of O’Reilly and parallel to it we have Empedrado Street which won its distinction by being paved from the old Cathedral to San Juan de Dios Park in the time of Governor General Las Casas. South of Obispo came Obrapia Street, or the Lane of Pious Works. Beyond and parallel to it came Lamparilla Street, which earned this cognomen owing to the fact that some progressive citizen in the early days hung a lantern in front of his residence for the benefit of the public at large.