San Lorenzo barrio-pueblo

San Lorenzo barrio-pueblo is a barrio and the administrative center (seat) of San Lorenzo, a municipality of Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 2,045.

As was customary in Spain, the municipality has a barrio called pueblo which contains a central plaza, the municipal buildings (city hall), and a Catholic church. Fiestas patronales (patron saint festivals) are held in the central plaza every year.

The central plaza and its church
The central plaza, or square, is a place for official and unofficial recreational events and a place where people can gather and socialize from dusk to dawn. The Laws of the Indies, Spanish law, which regulated life in Puerto Rico in the early 19th century, stated the plaza's purpose was for "the parties" (celebrations, festivities) (a propósito para las fiestas), and that the square should be proportionally large enough for the number of neighbors (grandeza proporcionada al número de vecinos). These Spanish regulations also stated that the streets nearby should be comfortable portals for passersby, protecting them from the elements: sun and rain.

Located across the central plaza in San Lorenzo barrio-pueblo is Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes de San Miguel de Hato Grande, the NRHP-listed Roman Catholic parish church. Another local landmark is the Machín–Ramos Residence, one of the oldest houses in the region and a historic monument.

History
San Lorenzo barrio-pueblo was in Spain's gazetteers until 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 San Lorenzo Pueblo was 2,084.

Sectors
Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions) in turn are further subdivided into smaller local populated place areas/units called sectores (sectors in English). The types of sectores may vary, from normally sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others.

The following sectors are in San Lorenzo barrio-pueblo:

Calle Celso Barbosa, Calle Colón, Calle Condado, Calle Delicias, Calle Dr. Veve Calzada, Calle El Edén, Calle Emilio Buitrago, Calle Federico Sellés, Calle José de Diego, Calle Julia Vázquez, Calle Méndez Álvarez, Calle Muñoz Rivera, Calle Nueva, Calle Policarpio Santana, Calle Ramón Alcalá, Calle Sánchez López, Calle Santiago Iglesias Pantín, Calle Soto, Calle Tomás Delgado, Calle Tous Soto, Calle Valeriano Muñoz, España, Residencial Hato Grande, Reparto Medina, Sector Aril, Sector Asia, Urbanización Las Mercedes, Urbanización Massó, Urbanización San Miguel, and Urbanización y Extensión Jardines de San Lorenzo.