Here I am signing the initiative and receiving guidance from the helpful functionaries at the Asamblea Nacional.

Our Bill or Proyecto de Ley #348 will be up for a very important debate next week and we are calling for people to support us with their presence.

This past Tuesday morning I was cited by the Asamblea Nacional de Panamá Permanent Commission to appear on next Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 10 A.M at the Budget Commission (Comisión de Presupuesto) to make a presentation defending our projected Law# 348 (Proyecto de Ley #348) Declaring Patrimonio Histórico the 3 cemeteries on the Banks of the Panama Canal and Black Canal Zone, Corozal (Silver), Gatún, and Mount Hope (Monte Esperanza) in Colon.

We need people who live IN PANAMA who can join us that day to back up this important Bill so that it will become the Law of the Land. This is a crucial step in recognizing the history and culture of our West Indian people of Panama.   The Bill involves much more than the cemeteries as it points up the significant participation of the West Indian people in Panama’s history and cultural diversity.

Every ethnic group in Panama is recognized by law EXCEPT the people of West Indian descent.  This law would be a precedent setting move in the full recognition of our contribution to what Panama is today.

For those who will attend, when you go to the security desk at the Asamablea, ask for Participación Ciudadana, Licenciado Victor Céspedes and you will be directed to where we are going to meet.  Please contact us through the contact sheet and we will provide details if you are going to back us in this effort.

The gallery images above are property of Mr. Allen Morrison.

In undergoing the intense period of transformation that usually accompanies modernization the average Panamanian today is compelled to cope with all the new changes in their besieged transportation system.

For over one hundred and sixty years our public transportation system has been based on the network of railroad, streetcars, chivas, mini-buses and Diablo Rojo; that is, until now.  Streetcar, by the way, is the American word for the British “Tram”.  Today we are seeing attempts at sweeping away the old and ushering in the new in so far as cleaner, safer and more modern conveyances for the average Panamanian is concerned.

The Street Cars- Two Stories

As with the history of the building of the Panama Canal, our country has also had two histories attached to the building of the streetcar system. During the bustling days of the Silver People back in the latter half of the 19^th century when Panama was yet a department of the Gran Colombia, the British were given license to build a tramway system in Panama City. Guess who they employed to do the taxing work involved in laying rails, putting together the cars and organizing the entire network on rail?  The West Indians were also primarily used to lay the cobblestones that still line the streets in many sections of Casco Viejo.

The large pool of West Indian men, mostly Jamaican, who were eager to work again after the building of the Panama Railroad and after the French departure in 1889, numbered in the thousands. They were not only eager but they spoke English, were hard working, and many had diverse skills that the English could seize upon.  They were not just a body of rough, illiterate men as some historians would have us believe.  Some men were almost as knowledgeable on these projects as the white men who employed them.

Since the building of the electric streetcars implied the existence of an electrical plant, this necessity was filled in by Siemens Bros., an affiliate of Siemens and Halske of Germany; the company also laid the track along Avenida Cemtral in Panama City. The British company, United Electric Tramways Co. of London, initiated the entire project on October 22, 1892 upon having the license transferred to them from the Ministry of Public Works in Bogotá.

According to Allen Morrison* the tramway was inaugurated on October 1, 1893, becoming one of Latin America’s first electric powered streetcar services. The service employed six streetcars, two enclosed and four open with comfortable seating capacity for twenty five passengers each. In the early days the technology used was quite advanced and no overhead power cables were used as in most tramway systems.  Unique side mounted power collectors were used.

As this period of time was in such volatility, however, the tram system did not last very long. It lasted from 1893 until about 1902 after the combined blows to the fragile local economy of the French demise in the building of the Panama Canal and the 1,000 Days War ravished the pockets of the people.

With Panama City in a shambles, the tramway system of the British came to an end and the second chapter, the American chapter, opened after Panama seceded from the Gran Colombia in 1903.  Allen Morrison tells us that on October 29, 1906 the new Panamanian government awarded a concession to build a new streetcar service that would be larger and also extend into the budding Canal Zone now in serious need of transportation for its workers.

The contract eventually fell to an officer of the United Fruit Company who, on November 9, 1911, registered Panama Tramways in, of all places, New Jersey. The New York engineering firm of R.W. Hebard, Co. was hired and in 1912 construction was begun with a budget of USD$750,000. The new American tram system was inaugurated on August 1, 1913, with plenty of  time to meet the inauguration of the Panama Canal on August 1914.  The goal of enlarging the streetcar system was met with fifteen closed cars from a New Jersey firm and seven additional electric cars from a Philadelphia company, J.G. Brill.  This time the technology included “trolley poles” which implied overhead cables and some of the cars were steam powered.

The cost of a ride on the streetcars varied between 10 and 15 cents.

Our point in revealing this history, however, is to also highlight the human participation in this wide scale project.  Not even the photographs can hide the fact that West Indians made up the bulk of the work force to build this transportation service both during the British period and the American period.  Rest assured that they also made up the majority of the passengers.

Maybe in a future post we will relate how the Jamaicans were the preferred workers by the renowned British Railway builders of the nineteenth century in the western hemisphere. Without them we would not have many of the train systems we have today in such places as Ecuador. Makes for fascinating reading and it also points to the significant participation of the Black West Indians in the modernization of Latin America.

********

You can see Allen Morrison’s account here.

Dr. Alonso Roy also gives a refreshing account in Spanish here.

A conceptual rendering of the proposed Financial Tower.

Santo Tomas Hospital has been very much in the news lately with regards to a controversial project to build an enormous 70+ high rise Financial Tower on the lot adjacent to the hospital which was until recently, home to the United States Embassy (1938-2011), who was the leaseholder of the building.

Santo Tomas Hospital is our central theme today as the history of the Silver People in Panama is intimately intertwined with its controversial past.  In its colonial days (prior to 1920) it was located on B Street in our fair Panama City, and it was a small inadequately equipped infirmary more than a hospital, staffed by a tiny group of inadequately trained people. 

As a result of the ever increasing influx of patients coming from the Panama Canal project, mainly West Indian workers and their families who were being redirected from Gorgas Hospital to the already crowded waiting rooms of Santo Tomas, the situation became even more urgent.  Many of these workers had either been divested of their hospital “privileges” in Gorgas Hospital, lost their job on the Zone, or simply denied service at Gorgas.  In light of this disastrous state of affairs it has been said that President Belisario Porras came up with the idea of building a new, modern, first rate hospital with the latest in equipment, instrumentation and staff.

Porras issued Executive Order 44-45 and 46 of November 1 and December 1, 1919, respectively, ordering the construction of a new hospital. He appointed a Board which would monitor and supervise the work, which was composed of Colonel Juan Antonio Jiménez, Secretary of promotion and public works, Major Edward A. Bocock,  Santo Tomas’ Superintendent, Nicholas E. Cassis, James C. Wright, Dr. Alfonso Preciado, General Leonidas Pretelt, Charles L. Stockelberg and Bartholomew Tarté who functioned as Secretary of the Board.

The technical staff in charge of the work included James C. Wright (Architect/Engineer), Daniel E. Wright (Engineering Consultant), Leopoldo Arosemena (Assisting Engineer), J. T. Luttrel (Assistant to the Consultant), John J. Mendez (Accountant), and a couple of draftsmen Charles Norman Little and Victor Tejeira.

The Executive Order was ratified months later by the National Assembly through Law 6 on January 28, 1920. The first stone was laid by Dr. Belisario Porras on November 15, 1919.  The initial steps to construct this badly needed medical facility, however, were not without its critics which came in the form of a mocking tag which has stuck with this hospital throughout the years: “The White Elephant.”  Fostered by his political opponents, the nickname attempted to deride the construction of the enormous building which was inaugurated at a total cost of B/.3,194,698.00, on September 1^st 1924.  What, they averred, did a small Republic such as Panamá need with such a huge building?

Under a resplendent sun, a group of more than 4,000 people turned out to see President Porras crown one of his greatest works.  The street of honor, composed of officers and agents of the national police, stood on each side of the red carpet under the command of Colonel A. R. Lamby and Captain Daniel Solis.  The first authorities in the nation, the Secretaries of State, members of the Supreme Court of Justice, members of the National Assembly, the Diplomatic Corps in full, members the City Council of the Capital District and notable dignitaries of the Church all assumed their places according to protocol for the ceremony to begin.

The event began with the words of Charles Stockelberg, Head of maintenance and purchases of the Panama’s National Government, who spoke briefly to the effort made by the Board during the construction and support at all times by President Porras, to who congratulated with much enthusiasm for having carried out a successful completion of such brilliant project.

Mayor Edward A. Bocock, Superintendent of the Santo Tomas Hospital, delivered a lengthy speech in English. He began his speech quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, and then went on to express his optimism for the integral improvement of care for the sick emphasizing his appreciation for the efforts of all the medical and paramedical personnel who worked in the old Hospital Santo Tomas.

Colonel Juan Antonio Jiménez , Secretary of promotion and public works, was the next speaker and went to delineate his capacity as Chairman of the Board responsible for the construction of the hospital.  He stated that this center would act as an entity of the State. He also highlighted the fact that The National Exhibition of 1915, gave prestige and value to this new section of the city, today called Balboa Avenue, which was previously owned by the Hurtado family and had been covered by thick mangroves and to a great extent, by the sea.

He was surprisingly prophetic in emphasizing the future transformation of the area and ended by thanking all those who participated and supported the effort and made it possible to turn a dream into reality.  He then turned over the address over to the keynote speaker of the opening ceremony, President Belisario Porras.

In his speech, President Porras related an anecdote in which a dear friend in the interior of the Republic suffered an accident.  He turned down President Porras’ offer to take him to the capital to receive medical care in Hospital Santo Tomas, by qualifying it as “the gateway to the city cemetery.”  After visiting the hospital following his friend’s accident, the President could not help but agree with this view which was not far from the truth.  He immediately began planning to build a new hospital.

Towards this end the President turned the National Lottery, which heretofore was privately owned, into The National Lottery de Beneficencia (for charitable purposes), whose fruits would be earmarked toward these ends and towards building other hospitals in the Republic.  This move with the Lottery enabled him to raise the three million Balboas for this construction project without having to raise new taxes.

He admitted, “in all honesty, this project is huge and everlasting and it has cost millions, but we must recognize that they (the millions) have not have fallen by the wayside to be a prey to others, or fallen among the rocks, but on fertile ground and it will produce, I am sure, enough to erase all the ingratitude, and can accomplish with them, as we have done, a work of beauty and grace, which will make my country much better than what it is.”

More than 75 years later Santo Tomas Hospital continues to be the People’s Hospital and school mother for generations of Panamanian doctors and foreigners, who have experienced the most bright and extraordinary emotions of their professional life during their practical training in this respected institution.  Thousands of first, second, third and fourth generation children of Silver People, the West Indian workers and their families of the former Panama Canal Zone, were born there and treated for their ailments and injuries at low cost.

The Poor People’s Hospital is Threatened

Today, however, the People’s Hospital is threatened with extinction and may go the way of some of our most treasured National Historic Patrimonies if the plans for the enormous Financial Tower become a reality.  The Tower or “La Tuza,” which would become the tallest building in Latin America, should be completed by 2013 at a total cost of $250 million. Much controversy, however, surrounds the fact that a good portion of the land belonging to Santo Tomas will be encroached by certain aspects of this Tower and that its very presence alongside “The White Elephant” will destroy the therapeutic ambiance of a major medical center.  The Belisario Porras Foundation heads the opposition groups to the building of this structure.

Santo Tomas Hospital holds many dear memories and has become a point of historical and emotional reference for many Silver People.  Will this historical monument fall before the pressures of big money and political interests?

Ancon Hospital circa 1920.

Continuing our series on the hospital history of the Panama Canal Zone, we’ll take a look at how the entire issue of the mentally ill was approached by the administrators of the Canal, both French and American.

The problem of mental illness came to present itself in different facets, sometimes very difficult to resolve. Classic cases of febrile illnesses such as yellow fever and malaria during the construction of the Canal often left as unwelcome vestiges major episodes of nervous disorders and sundry breakdowns that increasingly pointed to the need for clinical treatment for the various mental conditions.  In fact, even today, in Panamathe problem of severe depression is almost historically linked to the times of the Canal construction when so many cases arose as a consequence of this huge undertaking.

It is significant to note that the Taft Convention, signed between the United States and Panama in December 1904 to resolve disagreements that may have arisen on the basis of unilateral interpretations of the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty concerning the Panama Canal, considered “mental problems” important enough to mention as an article of consideration in the treaty.

It assigned the responsibility to “build, maintain and manage a hospital or hospitals, either in the Canal Zone or within Panama,” to the Americans, “for people with mental illnesses or leprosy and for charity patients, and for the United States to accept for treatment persons of these categories who were sent by the Republic of Panama.”

Following up on the commitment to this treaty, an initial group of 18 Panamanian patients which then swelled to 125, were transferred to a facility in the town of Corozal, better known as Miraflores Hospital, where treatment for mental illness was provided.

At the time, theRepublicofPanamawas paying $1.00 a day for these patients. However, the medical installations were already quite old and worn from the French period, and, in addition, the hospital managers didn’t want any separation of treatment between patients and wanted them generally returned toAnconHospital. The Canal authorities were now faced with the urgent need for more physical space to house a large and growing group of new workers who should soon reach the Isthmus.

The result was that on October 4, 1905 authorization was given for the construction of new buildings to accommodate facilities for treatment of the insane in nearby Ancon Hospital Ancon. Built on the site of an earlier French L’Hospital Notre Dame de Canal, it was originally (1904) christened Ancon Hospital by the Americans.

In February, 1907, an asylum complex was opened inAnconHospitalwith a total of twelve buildings which were distributed in the following manner:

1. Administration: two flats for rooms of doctors, nurses head office, deposit and central dining hall.

2 Central Kitchen: A fourth and central warehouse for employees and food preparation for all patients.

3 Dining: Only for the sick and with prior medical recommendations.

4. Two two-story buildings for male patients with a capacity of 32 to 44 beds.

5  A building for women: a single storey edifice with capacity for 16 beds, and this only as a recovery centre.

6 Special Buildings: Tri-plex type single storey structures with capacity for 20 beds each, two for men and one for dining.  This complex included an office for nurses and storage.

7. Cells for men.  These cells were for violent male patients with very high windows and doors protected by strong iron bars with dimensions measuring 8 ½ x 10 half feet. The cells totaled capacity for 14 patients.

8.  Cells for women: For equally violent or extremely disturbed women patients were of equal dimensions to the ones for men but were laid out in two rows of five.

9.  A Building for Employees: A single storey unit to accommodate 12 people.

The entire facility was completely surrounded by an 8 foot tall wire fence with a single gateway.

The highest authority for the Ancon Hospital Insane Asylum was a superintendent who lived on the hospital grounds.  He also had an assistant, a Chief Nurse, four male nurses/attendants, assistants and support staff. Admissions were handled solely by a Board composed of the Chairman and the Chief of Medical Services of Ancon Hospital and Superintendent of the Insane Asylum.

November 3, 1928, the Insane Asylum of theAnconHospitalwas terminated officially through an Executive Order signed by President Calvin Coolidge of theUnited States,.

Through this order all mental patients were now transferred to the new Corozal Hospital specializing in mental disorders and were placed under the command of the Canal area health service. In relocating all patients to a singleinstitutionHospital Corozal took a significant step in at least recognizing the importance of treatment for this category of patients.

What started, then, as a way of clinically coping with the onslaught of mental illness arising from the diverse tropical fevers and gruesome physical hazards of the Canal construction, eventually turned into a proving ground for developments in the treatment of mental illness inPanama.  Of course, with the Silver Roll workers swelling the ranks of the mental wards, their part in this history needs to be told.

Gorgas Hospital in the Corregimiento of Ancon would later come to be known as the New Ancon Hospital before it was officially known as GorgasHospital.

Our many thanks to Dr. Alonso Roy for the historical basics in this article.

A vintage postcard image of Colon Hospital thanks to panamarailroad.org.

An old photo of one of the Sisters of Charity that might have staffed the original Colon Hospital under the French. image nunsandsisters.com

From the very beginning in 1881 the French Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique started construction of a hospital in the city of Colon by first choosing a beautiful site by the shores of the Caribbean Sea in the northern part of Manzanillo Island.  This choice location provided fresh cross ventilation and the wonderful eternally present sea air which carried currents of relief for its many patients. At that time it earmarked a budget of $ 1 million for the building and equipping of this respected institution.

The company employed an excellent medical corps and a group of nurses chosen from the ranks of the Sisters of Charity of  St. Vincent of Paul, who, although they were not professional, had the desire and, what is most important, the love and attitude of caring to mitigate the pain and suffering of their patients.

The hospital initially housed 550 patients who were distributed throughout the 40 buildings.  The main structures were built upon pillars and were linked together by bridges, halls and a protective fence. There were a total of 15 rooms for hospitalizations that could receive between 12 to 40 patients each. In addition, there was housing for married and unmarried medical staff, nurses, laboratory workers and support staff. The hospital was equipped with clinics, a morgue and large storage areas and possessed the best in the technology of its day.

Since the early days of the railroad (1855) there existed in Colon a small hospital to meet the needs of employees.  It was called Stranger´s Hospital.  Following the bankruptcy of the first French company (February 4,1886), and the take over by the Nouvelle Compagnie (also known as the second French Company), the Sisters of Charity took charge of Stranger’s Hospital which became mainly a haven for homeless people.

When the Americans acquired all the French properties in May 1904, the Colon Hospital was subjected to very extensive renovations and construction of new buildings, valued at $200,000.00. They also bought the small Railway Hospital, which consisted of two floors and had a capacity for 30 patients.

The American period at the Colon Hospital actually started on September 14, 1904, with Dr. L.W. Spratling as first its superintendent, together with 15 doctors and 50 graduate nurses. The Organization was similar to the Ancon Hospital in Panama (on the Pacific coast), and it also has a first rate surgical team.

The staff assigned to the so-called “hospitals of the line”, a total of fourteen and located in different villages along the railway, belonged to the medical corps of the Colon Hospital and under the leadership of the Director of hospitals, Dr. H.R. Carter. Colon Hospital also devoted time and resources to fully training newly recruited doctors to work in Panama. By November, 1906, all scheduled installations had been built.

The territory covered by this Medical Center’s services extended to the populations of Gatun, Cristobal, Portobelo, as well as including the cities of Colon and Bocas del Toro, since the Republic of Panama, at that time, did not provide health services to any of the territories on the Atlantic coast.

All kinds of emergencies were handled at the hospital and its clinics with an average of 40 cases per day and it offered 24 hour service.  As we all know by now the construction projects saw thousands of lives lost, particularly West Indian lives, by the close of 1914.  Colon Hospital always had a large influx of patients, in fact, reaching a total of 1,050 admissions by June 1908 and with a record of 47 per one day in the same year and for the first half of 1908.  The total for the first semester of 1908 alone was 12,166 patients.

Several permanent governing committees were created for the continuing and better management of the hospital.  Many issues were reviewed by these committees including the drafting of contracts for new staff, and also the discussion of repatriations due to physical problems or disease that warranted that these patients be returned to their respective countries.   The Commission on Infections, for example, was very important, as can be imagined in this once very plague ridden tropical country.  It reviewed patient diagnoses and reported to the Chief of Health on the presence and frequency of these diseases in the community or in recently arrived travelers.

Colon Hospital was a remarkable development during the construction of the Panama Canal.  It maintained a high standard of care and administration in the daily management of the patients at a time when medical attention was a priority during the construction of this formidable waterway. It was for this reason, and to keep up with the massive incidences of infection, disease and accidents that the Canal Company endowed the Hospital with the best medical staff, equipment, and instrumentation to perform efficiently the important work of saving lives.

* We must credit Dr. Alonso Roy and his excellent articles regarding this subject for much of the background information in this post.

Older view of Gorgas Hospital on file with the Library of Congress photo collection.

By Lydia M. Reid

The history and heritage of the Silver People of Panama would not be complete without a mention of their longstanding relationship with the medical facilities that served (and did not serve) so many of them.  The French and American construction periods of the Panama Canal sought to provide health services to their vibrant population of workers from all over the globe but the Black workers from the West Indian islands were probably the largest segment of people to recur to the services offered by the various medical institutions.

The next few posts will cover the many well known institutions that tended to the sick, injured, dying and mentally ill of the Silver People of the Panama Canal Zone and their relationship to the cities in the Republic of Panama.

Gorgas Hospital

Two hospitals and a convalescent center in Taboga Island were acquired within the properties purchased from the French on May 4, 1904 by the Americans. All were in poor condition, as may be expected, after having seen years of neglect after the French Canal venture shut down in 1889.  The Americans presumably needed to invest large sums of money for refurbishment in keeping with medical practice.

Ancon Hospital in Panama, which succeeded Hospital Central du Panama (1882) under the French Canal administration, was held as a major health center at one time and had a formidable organization, but by 1914 their complex network of some 90 buildings had already been in operation for 30 years. Intercommunication between its complexes of extensions had become increasingly tedious and difficult.

Medical directors, technicians, nurses and manual workers, agreed that a new hospital had to be built to meet the enormous demand rather than continue with frequent renovations. By April 1914, a special committee to “investigate and make recommendations for the reconstruction of Ancon Hospital, was appointed permanently.” The members included Dr. Alfred B. Herrick at that time Ancon Hospital’s Superintendent, Mr. R. E. Wood, Panama Canal Controller, and architect Samuel Hitt.

The original idea of Colonel William C. Gorgas, head of health services of the Panama Canal Zone, was to build a completely new hospital in the same place, with capacity for 1,200 patients, including an insane asylum. The Committee reviewed his proposal and the accompanying budgetary figures and reduced capacity specifications to 800, excluding mental patients for whom a separate hospital was proposed. The Special Committee also added the following recommendations:

1. To conserve the present site for the new construction.

2. To build five groups of buildings for hospital wards, each with kitchen, dining facilities and administration.

3.  To provide an adequate outpatient consultation facility.

In April 1915 the U.S. Congress approved an allocation of $2,000,000 for this project to be extended until April 1919. In addition to the construction of the new structures Ancon Hospital launched a complete renovation of its medical staff and its infrastructure. The hospital became renowned as the best medical facility south of the Rio Grande, with the capacity to offer medical treatment for just about any type of health problem. Among its distinguished staff were some 33 doctors who enjoyed great popularity and prestige, 81 nurses graduated from approved institutions, nurse aides, technical personnel dedicated to janitorial services and the like.

The quality of medical care offered at Ancon Hospital became recognized all over the Canal Zone and the republic, and its fame spread throughout Central and South America, reaching many patients in those locations.

By March 24, 1928, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution that read as follows:

“…in recognition for distinguished service to humanity and as a way of perpetuating the name and memory of General William Crawford Gorgas, the government hospital known as the Ancon Hospital will be known henceforth as Gorgas Hospital.”

Gorgas Hospital continued to offer medical services to those patients with hospital “privileges” from the Zone and was a point of comparison with Panamanian hospitals, among which was the Caja de Seguro Social (Hospital), which, it has been said, started their medical staff with doctors trained from Gorgas Hospital’s facilities.

Gorgas Hospital continued to operate until October 1999, when, with the Torrijos-Carter Panama Canal treaties its administration passed to Panamanian hands.

As far as the West Indian experience goes, Gorgas Hospital conjures up very mixed feelings in that, at all times right up until the 1960’s, its facilities followed the Gold and Silver Roll segregation policies with the enforcement of separate “Silver wards,” including maternity wards.

The access to medical privileges was often denied to many Silver Roll workers even when they continued working on the Zone prompting them to seek medical treatment in private clinics in the cities of Panama and Colon usually run by doctors from the West Indies who had set up practice on the Isthmus.  During peak “downsizing periods” on the Zone, particularly the 1950’s, many Silver Roll workers lost their jobs as well as medical privileges.

Having lost their livelihood they also lost their ability to pay for health care even in public facilities such as Santo Tomas Hospital.  During these periods the strain on these Panamanian health facilities was severely felt by the administrators who, at one time, asked the Panamanian government to allow them to impose a special tax or fee on the ex-Silver Roll workers to defray their skyrocketing costs in their medical facility.  More about Santo Tomas Hospital in a future post.

The Stone Church or "La Iglesia de Piedra" is one of Rio Abajo's most visible icons especially for the Westindian community.

by Lydia M. Reid

The history of this landmark church which had close ties to the Panamanian West Indian community dates back to the 1930s. Rio Abajo District residents began efforts to build a chapel in that part of the city since the nearest church was Our Lady of Lourdes in La Sabana which meant a considerable distance walk in the absence of urban transport. Rio Abajo was not incorporated into the city at the time and although Via España was as already a main artery, between Rio Abajo and La Sabana there existed a very long and practically uninhabited distance to walk.

Definite construction of this house of worship began in the 1940s when steps to build a church began in earnest.  The first step- to acquire a parcel of ground to build upon- was made possible by Mr. Enrique Lefevre, owner of the area known as Parque Lefevre, with a donation of land.

After realizing many social activities such as collections, raffles, etc., a chapel was built and inaugurated on December 8, 1944. It was a small rectangular building with a façade of stone which culminated in a bell enclosure. It was due to the stone facade that the people began calling it “The Stone Church“.

The Vincentian Friars of St. Mary’s in Balboa, who were in charge of the spiritual care of the residents of this part of the city, customarily celebrated Mass in English as most of the inhabitants were English-speaking. By November 8, 1954, however, the parish of St. John the Baptist of la Salle was created and it provided a more complete service to the parishioners of Rio Abajo and Parque Lefevre; in other words the services were extended and celebrated in both languages.

The Augustinian Recollects

On November 20 of that same year, Bishop Francisco Beckman entrusted the newly formed parish community to the Augustinian Recollect Fathers. The Augustinian Recollects have a great tradition in Panama, in fact, since their presence dates back to the 17^th century.

The Augustinian order now runs the prestigious St. Augustine School and the parishes of San Lucas, San José (the Golden Altar Church) and St. John Baptist de la Salle him in Panama; Holy family, David and the Mission of Bocas del Toro with missionary centres in: Bocas del Toro, Rear Admiral, Changuinola, Chiriqui Grande and Kankintu. Jesús Sanzol was the first parish priest resident and served until 1961.

Miraculous Medal Center Intensifies Parish Life.

In 1953 the Legion of Mary founded the Miraculous Medal Center giving great impetus to the evangelization effort with home visits, visits to sick, prayer of the Rosary in the Church and in households. Subsequently new groups such as catechism classes for first communion and confirmation, Christian youth movement, and Neo-catechumenal communities have arisen giving new vigor to parish life.

The parish center of the Miraculous Medal facilities was inadequate to accommodate all group activities giving rise to the need for the construction of a new building.  The building now consists of two floors with different rooms to meet the demands of parishioners. On the second floor is the main hall which can accommodate several hundred people. It has a setting that enables the presentation of plays. Remodeling and expansion of the small stone church parish church was insufficient for a parish community as dynamic and large. The expansion of the parochial Temple was a long-held dream. Finally able to get the land located between the Church and the priests housing and from there the project began to take shape.

Construction of the New Church Edifice

In August 1995 demolition of the former chapel was begun and in 1996 the new Church was opened conserving its distinctive stone facade. The new Church is actually called St. John the Baptist de La Salle and Santa Monica. It consists of a nave of 35 meters long by 16 wide without columns, which leads to a spacious presbytery presided over by a window with a risen Christ and the saints of the order, better known as “Augustinian Heaven.”

Today, Rio Abajo’s “Stone Church” has been transformed into a parish of great vitality and is more than just a landmark for Rio Abajo. Groups and associations and partnerships that have contributed to this dynamism include the Legion of Mary that existed since 1953, The Christian Youth movement, which was started in 1969 and by 1982 was the main youth group of the parish.

La Boca Town in flames as seen from a distance. Image thanks to La Prensa.

Another Barraca (barracks like row of "rooms") burned down recently putting a gradual end to the Westindian face of Rio Abajo.

by Lydia M. Reid

With a justifiable note of regret the residents of La Boca Town gave a final farewell to the legendary piece of real estate that burned down completely on February 21, 2002. Today, 4^th Street in Rio Abajo, where for decades La Boca Town was located, is witnessing dramatic winds of change. People from other areas and cultures have come to settle in this area and the descendants of the original Black Westindians who came with the construction of the Canal have departed in other directions or have simply died out slowly.

After the fire, many of these families were relocated in houses in Arraiján and Tocumen, and thus gradually the Westindian community of Río Abajo has continued spreading outward. Carmen Odassa McIntosh was one of the victims of that fire that consumed La Boca Town. Since then she lives with her family in one of the few wooden buildings remaining on the street. With a Spanish accent laced with Creole English, the woman in black leather and elaborate plaits in her hair, yearns for the time when the “Afroantillano” – Westindian- community could afford to live together.

I remember my first encounter with this expanding community when I was about 12 or 13 years of age (about 1948) and went to help my Aunt Marie in the construction of her new house.  After years of scrimping and saving along with my help in selling contraband cigarettes at different points in the city, she finally got the money to buy some land over in the area of Patio Patterson in Rio Abajo.

She was able to amass building materials and pay a few laborers to build a good solid two-story house of cement block and tin roof.  There were many other Westindians who were joining the expansion out into Rio Abajo and areas like Betania.  Finally, they would have a rent free dwelling of their own with enough space to stretch out and be able to see some greenery.

Today the face of Rio Abajo is changing rapidly.  Modern construction and the multitude of commercial workshops have moved into and replaced the old model of Caribbean architecture which was the flagship, of sorts, of this singular neighborhood, to the extent that only 35 of these Caribbean type houses may still be found.

Most of these “board houses” are in an advanced state of disrepair, while others are totally abandoned, becoming a refuge for thugs, vagrants and drug addicts. Rio Abajo- born back in the early part of the 20^th century out of a need for decent housing solutions for the Canal workers who arrived from the Caribbean islands has become a hotbed of commercial activity.

Javier Ortega, who is the undisputed representative of the district, has reported that there are approximately 300 workshops in the area. Dozens of buildings have emerged in this once vibrant residential area, while on Via España, banks, restaurants and small businesses give this hodgepodge of industry a touch of disorderly prosperity.

On a corner near the 14th Street entrance, Francisco Small, known as “Fanso” opened his “Chomba” food stand with great hopes for the future.  He is only one of the many new entrepreneurs making Rio Abajo his business location.

Fanso is an expert in the preparation of Rondón, Cucú (similar to Polenta), Shrimp Chupé, Stewed Salt Cod, Souse (pronounced “sau” in Panama), Bun (Panamanian Westindian style), oxtail soup, Icing Glass and Ginger Beer.  He admits that he is very troubled, however, about today’s generation of Westindian descendants who are losing the habit of speaking English, a feature that has always distinguished them despite the fact that early in the 20th century it brought them many problems. There was a time when it was actually taboo to speak English and more pointedly so in the Westindian accent. This language, it seemed, was exclusive to white Americans who were then directing the construction of the Canal.

Fanso is another son of La Boca Town who reminisces about the days that the Westindians danced The Quadrille, played dominoes and the women of Rio Abajo would dress up with white handkerchiefs on their heads and the men wore orange and bright green pants.  Today, they dare not dress in this fashion for fear of being ridiculed.  However, there is a trend, a healthy fashion trend to dress more “ethnic” in Afro garb fashioned by expert dressmakers and tailors. This, in my view, is a very positive evolutionary step in taking back the good that the Westindian culture has given Panama.

There are still about 500 senior Westindians, adds Small, living in the Corregimiento who take refuge in the old lodge periodically. “Justice Lodge,” reads the sign in front of the building, and it is where they meet each Thursday to teach children to dance The Quadrille, to listen to Calypso and to keep alive their political and religious traditions.

Many long time residents of Rio Abajo complain that the neighborhood is so saturated that children no longer have green areas for fun.  More concerned with the new merchants than with the criminal activity and gang violence, these residents are somewhat resentful that these businesses seem to just take over without any concerns for the local people.  Many of the new businesses, they feel, particularly the workshops, have been devouring sidewalk space and street rows and they don’t give the working people from the neighborhood any employment opportunities.  A flagrant lack of trades and homelessness are the main problems of the community.

A few meters from the Colonial House, another landmark in Rio Abajo,  is also the legendary 11½^th Street, where single row condemned houses and apartment buildings characterize the sector.  Some long time residents say that Rio Abajo is undergoing a dramatic transformation.  Many Dominicans have now settled the area and set up their own businesses.  These Spanish speaking Antilleans are the new face of Rio Abajo.

The corregimiento today has over 30 thousand inhabitants, and despite the fact that, in most cases, people often speak of Río Abajo in terms of violence and overcrowding, it has several upscale areas in its very midst such as Villa Gabriela, Villa Lorena, Villa Rica estates, Altos del Río.   Now there is a library and an Infoplaza (government sponsored Internet Cafes) on 6th Street next to the Junta Comunal- the Community Board Building. The famous produce market on 17th Street has also been modernized.

Nothing is the same anymore except for the Kelvin, a bar and food shop, and the Stone Church which stands witness to the events and changes that put an end to symbols such as La Boca Town.

The Stone Church or "La Iglesia de Piedra" is one of Rio Abajo's most prominent landmarks.

By Lydia M. Reid

Rio Abajo, which literally means “down river,” is an excellent example of one of the Silver communities in the Republic of Panama apart from the Canal Zone that was founded and originally urbanized by the Westindians who came to settle in Panama.

The known history of Rio Abajo dates from at least the 19th century when it was a vast grazing area devoted to the raising of cattle.  From that point until 1914 during the construction of the inter-oceanic canal, a group of people originating from the English speaking Caribbean settled there and gave rise to urban settlements.

Its rural, wide open countryside, in fact, was its first attraction for a people who were anxious to leave the squalid, crowded and expensive tenements of the big city and have a chance at owning a property of their own.  Very soon their countrymen from the Barrios of Santa Ana, Calidonia, San Felipe, as well as paisanos of non-Westindian origins were joining them in this new community in the western area of Panama City.  Included in this group would also be the Westindian laborers and their families who were either being evicted from Canal Zone housing or were being displaced on the workforce.  In Rio Abajo, for the first time, land prices were within their reach and they could afford to buy a piece of the country.

From 1925 to 1932 the rise of popular movements mostly initiated by Westindian laborers due to severe housing shortages in some sectors of Panama City led the Antilleans to go and reside in Rio Abajo, located near the banks of the Rio Abajo River.

In a show of unity and strength on the part of the Westindians’ who struggled for recognition of their rights as workers and legitimate residents and citizens of the Republic of Panama, many of them were empowered to buy land previously owned by the following: the de la Guardia, Remón, Espinosa, Ledezma, Quesada, and Lefevre families.

By 1933 initial attempts were made by the Westindians to upgrade the village of Rio Abajo to a Corregimiento, but this initiative was vetoed by Mayor Carlos de la Ossa, who considered that the Westindian community did not have within its local ranks qualified people to staff the offices of the Corregimiento.

In the year 1937, however, municipal agreement N° 20 dated June18 the Corregimiento of Rio Abajo was created. Its population according to the 2000 census is 28,714 (13,346 men and 15,368 women).  As soon as the 2010 Census results are in we are sure that the population figures will be much larger as Rio Abajo is one of the most rapidly growing districts in the City of Panama.

Rio Abajo’s extension is: its total area is 33.8 km² with a population density of 6.3 per square kilometer.  Its limits are as follows: to the north is the District of San Miguelito; to the south is the Corregimiento of Parque Lefevre; to the east it borders with the Corregimiento of Juan Diaz and to the west it borders with the Corregimiento of Pueblo Nuevo.

Its political divisions are known as Barrios or Barriadas and they are the following:  Villa Lorena, Villa Gabriela, Victoriano Lorenzo, La Rosita, La Marina, San Cristóbal, Villa Elena, El Porvenir, Blas Bloise, Altos del Río, La Boca Town, El Progreso N ° 1 and N ° 2, Marcasa, La Florida, Villa Maria, Villa Rica, Los Yoses, Río Abajo Centro de Calle 4^ta and 19^na.

Public services: Corregiduria and Centre for social work, police, agency of posts and Telegraphs, municipal library, substations nursery school, Centre for health, National Bank, savings, Polyclinic San Cristóbal, ULAPS Social Security Fund and the Office of the Republican band. Public Schools: Clara Ofelina Wattley, San Martín De Porras, Bilingual School El Arco Iris (Rainbow), Bilingual Educational Centre Children Of The Future, Arabe De Libya, and Mateo Iturralde.

State sponsored nurseries:  Joaquina de Torrijos, Clara Wattley, Rainbow Bilingual School and Armando Salazar.

Its six Parks are the following: Forestal of Hato Pintado, Anapolis, Luis Branca, Nidia Endara, Altos Miramar, and Miguel Negrito Quiñónez.

In upcoming posts we will track the evolution of Rio Abajo and the expansion of the Westindian people into this new part of the city.

One of the many nameless "Men of Brawn" who made up the bulk of the West Indian Silver Roll workforce. Should he survive to retirement age, he (or she) could expect the grand sum of $25.00 per month.

by Lydia M. Reid

We want to wish all of our U.S. readers and their families a safe and happy Labor Day during this cherished weekend in which the working men and women are honored and remembered.

This is also a perfect moment to highlight an all-too-widespread occurrence during the repatriation process experienced by the Silver men and women of the Panama Canal Zone.  Just as reports of grand opportunities to leave poverty and semi-slavery behind by seeking work on the Panama Canal construction circulated throughout the West Indies during the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s, thus bringing thousands of hopeful individuals to Panama, new reports during repatriation would reveal a terrible reality.

The following archival report taken from a 1952 account will reveal the fate of too many “retired” workers from the Panama Canal who happened to survive twenty or more years of endless toil only to be retired with the paltry sum of $25.00 per month and no other worker benefits to carry them through the difficult transitional stage of leaving the workforce and re-settling in a homeland that they were probably absent from for more than three decades.  This account was, by no means, the only one of its kind.  The island governments by the 1940’s and 50’s began documenting many such “Wretched Cargos” of their former citizens who dared venture onto Panama’s shores seeking a better life.

“2 Dead, 9 Mad, On Pitiful Trip of Repatriates to Barbados”

20 Jan 1952

Bridgetown, Barbados,- A sad and moving story of the pitiful plight of 56 West Indian repatriates from the Panama Canal Zone, arriving Sunday afternoon 6^th here is revealed in reports from the Barbados Advocate of Monday 7^th and Tuesday 8^th.

The workers arrived on the Colombian motor vessel J. W. Rogers which sailed from Cristobal on December 27^th via Curacao.  Enroute two of the passengers died and nine were insane.

Two Barbadians, Haynes Clarke, 60, and Claudius Rogers, 62, died aboard ship, and when the J. W. Rogers anchored in Carlisle Bay Sunday nine of the 56 passengers were raving mad and another awaiting the earliest opportunity for admittance to the general hospital, The Advocate reports.

From Barbados, Isaiah Hicks, Vernal Skeete, 35, Beresford Dorant, 62, Louise Hill, 65, Charles Roach, 65, and Joseph Roett, 66, were delirious.  William Allen, 63, of Montserrat, Pauline Bouchett, 70, of Martinique, and Thomas Fraser of British Guiana were the other insane passengers.

Forty six of the J. W. Rogers human cargo were Barbadians, two St. Lucians, two Guianese, two Panamanians, one Grenadian, one Monserratian, one Vincentian, and three Martinicans.

A little Panamanian girl of 10 and a boy of 13 came up with their West Indian grandparents, but the ages of the West Indians ranged between 35 and 78.

It was a rather pitiful sight to see the retired workers limp, haggard, and wearing rumpled old clothing come up from below the J. W. Rogers to catch their first glimpse of Barbados- some after being 50 years out of the island.  Most of them had very little baggage with them and they complained of a rough trip up.

Arriving were William Allen (Montserrat), Joseph Armstrong (Barbados), Vernal Skeete, James Walcott, Benjamin Walkes, Clementina Walkes, Pauline Bouchett (Martinique), Beresford Dorant (Barbados), Yolanda Elliott (Martinique), James Forde (Barbados), Iris Holder, Raimundo Hurdle (Panama), Silverio Muñoz (Panama), Irene Armstrong (Barbados), Irvin Beckles, Urcilla Beat, Egbert  Bispham,William Blackman,  Constance Brathwaite, Isaac Brathwaite, Jeanette Brathwaite, John Brathwaite, Ruth Brathwaite, Oscar Butcher, Ulrica Butcher, Charles Dodson (British Guiana), Joseph Forde (Barbados), Elizabeth Haywood, Walter Haywood, Isaiah Hicks, Clifford Hinds, Daniel Hunt, Joseph Hunt, Emma Kellman, Samuel Kellman, Alonza Kennedy, Lucy Lacry, George D. Massiah, Samuel Murray, Josephine Noel (Grenada), Wycliffe Robinson (St. Vincent), Edward Scantlebury (Barbados), Cleopatra Skeete, Cleophas Skeete, James Skeete, Charles Roach, Joseph Roett, Alfred Thomas (St. Lucia), Mary Thomas (St. Lucia), Louise Welch (Barbados), Claude Franklin (Martinique).

All bedraggled and unkempt, their faces and general demeanor spoke of poverty and years of hard toil in Panama.  They brought with them parcels of clothes and were dressed in old clothing that needed washing and pressing.

Ten of the passengers, whose homelands are Montserrat, St. Lucia, British Guiana, Grenada, St. Vincent, and Martinique, are awaiting transportation from Barbados to their homes.

Forty-six Barbadians had left Panama for Barbados but two of them died before reaching home.  Captain Martin said that the first of them to die, sixty year old Haynes Clarke, suffered from cancer.  He died when the ship called at Curacao and was buried there.  An officer of the British Council was present at the burial, Captain Martin said.  The other, Claudius Rogers, died when the J. W. Rogers was a day out to sea on her way from Curacao to Barbados and he was given a watery grave.  He died of a paralytic stroke, the Captain said.

The rusty looking 158 ton Colombian motor ship carries a crew of 8 who had to look after their normal duties on the ship as well as cater to the 58 passengers- with nine delirious- for the ten days that the vessel took to reach Barbados from Colon with a stop at Curacao.

Captain Martin said that the actions of the nine delirious passengers were never violent.  They were kept in a room by themselves but a close eye had to be kept on them.

One of them, sixty-three year old William Allen from Montserrat, did not come ashore.  Allen kept up a wild gaze and was ambling idly around the ship when an Advocate reporter boarded yesterday.

“I don’t want to go ‘shore.  I from Montserrat,” he said when asked if he was a Barbadian.  Allen was the only passenger from Montserrat and he was about transportation from Barbados to Montserrat.

TWO HELPLESS

At the Bridgetown Police Station, two of them- a man and a woman- were helpless. They lay on stretchers waving their hands in the air and making audible but unintelligible sounds.  They had brought back practically nothing from Panama and were then the subjects of a board of lunacy.

The J. W. Rogers, a freighter having very little passenger accommodations, had quite a number of improvised bunks so as to carry the 58 passengers.  In one cabin, enough space was just left between two bunks for a passenger to get on or off his bed. The cabin had three layers of bunks, the two top most of which were slung up with chain.

The J. W. Roger’s voyage from Colon to Curacao was very rough.  High winds, heavy waves and occasional showers struck her.  Most of them were sea-sick the first day of the voyage, but the majority of them were almost back to normal when they were coming from Curacao to Barbados.  The voyage from Curacao to Barbados was pleasant as far as the weather was concerned.

The J. W. Rogers is on her first visit to Barbados.  Captain Martin speaks Spanish, but carries an interpreter among his crew.