Catedral, Old San Juan

Having been inhabited since 1511, the Catedral subbarrio represents the oldest portion of Old San Juan, with its namesake cathedral and some of its squares being the oldest established structures in the city.^[2] Some of the oldest institutions in the Americas were established here during the 16th century.^[3][4] Additionally, La Fortaleza, the headquarters of the executive branch of the Puerto Rican government,^[5] and the Puerto Rico Department of State,^[6] are also located in this subbarrio. Originally known as the Barrio de San Juan before the annexation of Santurce and the subsequent dissolution of the previously-established barrios of the city, Catedral still functions as the administrative and historic downtown of the city, containing the cathedral, the city hall and its primary plaza or main town square.^[7][8]

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 Catedral was 2,497.^[9]