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Ponce, Puerto RicoPonce, the second largest city in Puerto Rico outside of the San Juan metropolitan area is named after the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. It is located a few miles from the Caribbean coastline of the island. Ponce is often referred to as the "The Pearl of the South."  
HistoryPonce, nicknamed The City of Los Leones after Ponce de León, has one of Puerto Rico's richest histories, dating back to the 17th century.It was founded in 1692 by LoÃza Ponce de León, Juan Ponce de León's great-grandson. In 1883, Ponce was ravaged by an enormous fire. The fire was threatening to destroy all of Puerto Rico's South, but thanks to the firemen of Ponce (who operated from Ponce's Parque de Bombas fire station), after an historic and dramatic battle with the fire, Ponce and the South were saved. The Parque de Bombas fire station in the central plaza has since become a museum and touristic attraction to all Puerto Ricans and tourists from abroad.The station continued serving the Ponce community until 1990, when it was closed and the building's activities were entirely dedicated to the museum, which is still open to the general public. In 1937, Ponce was the scene of an incident dubbed the "Ponce Massacre" in which unarmed Nationalist protesters were shot by police. Ponce's tourist appeal did not go unnoticed, and since the 1960s, the Holiday Inn Hotel branch located there has become almost as famous as Ponce's touristic attractions. International flights were once flown there into Mercedita Airport by Eastern Airlines and later by American Airlines, while domestic operations were overseen by Prinair. Nowadays, Mercedita is strictly a domestic airport, with Cape Air dba Continental Connection flying from Luis Muñoz MarÃn International Airport in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Connections from SJU are easily available. Among other sites worth visiting are the Seralles mansion overlooking the city and the chamfered street corners and well-preserved nineteenth century domestic architecture in the blocks surrounding the central plaza. Ponce is also the home of El Museo de Arte de Ponce, which was operated by Puerto Rico's former Governor Luis A. Ferré until his death at the age of 99, the Don Q liquor manufacturer and the Leones de Ponce, Puerto Rico's national basketball champions eleven times. Ponce in October 1985 suffered a great tragedy, when at least 129 people lost their lives to an mud avalanche in an area known as Mameyes. International help was needed to rescue people and corpses. The United States and many foreign countries, such as Mexico, France, and Venezuela, sent economic, human, and machinery relief. Ponce, and all of Puerto Rico, has always been thankful of the countries that helped. Famous Ponceños include former world boxing light heavyweight champion José Torres, former world champion Carlos Ortiz, international singer Ednita Nazario, former governors Luis A. Ferré, Dr. Pedro Rosselló, and Rafael Hernández Colón, former Menudo Roy Rosselló, Ferré's sister, Sor Isolina Ferré, and teacher Lourdes Pamela Pop. Ponce's mayor for fifteen years (since 1989), Rafael Cordero, died on the morning of January 17, 2004, as a consequence of three brain strokes.
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