title: Juan José Cartagena
text: # Juan José Cartagena
  
  Juan José Cartagena (c. 1815 – c. 1895) was Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from April 1876 to 4 July 1879, and again from February 1881 to October 1881.
  
  ## First mayoral term (1876)
  
  During the first of his mayoral terms, Cartagena was mayor of Ponce from April 1876 to 4 July 1879. Others who worked during his administration included Dr. Rafael del Valle, Dr. Manuel Pasarell, the journalist Mario Braschi, and historian Eduardo Neumann Gandía.
  
  Cartagena is best remembered for overseeing the installation of the clock on the front facade of Casa Alcadia. The now famous clock was brought from London and its installation was performed under the care of Julio E. Steinacker. The clock cost 1,000 Spanish pesos ($1,000 ($27,481 in 2022 dollars)). It was installed on 13 August 1877, the same day that Ponce received the title of "City" by the Spanish Crown. The construction of the Hospital Tricoche also occurred under Cartagena's administration, and on 11 December 1878 Cartagena gave an inaugural speech for the opening of the hospital.
  
  ## Second mayoral term (1881)
  
  Unlike his multi-year mayoral term in 1876 to 1879, Cartagena governed the municipality of Ponce in 1881 for only 8 months, from February through the end of September.
  
  ## Honors
  
  There is a street in Urbanización Las Delicias of Barrio Magueyes in Ponce named after him.
  
  