Abolition Park

Parque de la Abolición
Parque de la Abolicion in Ponce, Puerto Rico, looking west
Type	Urban park
Location	Ponce, Puerto Rico
Created	1874 (created) 1890s (opened) 1956 (renovated)
Operated by	Government of the Municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico
Open	9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entrance free. Closed on legal holidays, except for scheduled events.

1874 (created)
1890s (opened)

Parque de la Abolición (English: Abolition Park) is a city park in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is the only park in the Caribbean dedicated to commemorating the abolition of slavery. It was built in 1874 and renovated in 1956.

The park is located on Avenida Hostos at the fork of Salud Street and Marina Street, immediately north of the 100-foot high Monumento a la abolición de la esclavitud.

The park features a grassy green area with trees and masonry benches as well as two monuments to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico: a monument depicting a black male slave with broken chains depicting he is a free man, and a 100-foot high obelisk, Monumento a la abolición de la esclavitud, which rises just behind the black iron sculpture of the freed slave to accentuates and give instance to the occasion. Between the green area of the park and the two monuments is the outdoors acoustic amphitheater known as La Concha Acustica (English: The Acoustic Shell) which completes the park in its triangular city block.

After almost 70 years of use with only minor maintenance, the park was renovated in 1956 by Francisco Porrata Doria, an architect from Ponce.

Slaves were brought to Puerto Rico from Africa, starting in the early 16th century and lasting through the 19th century, to replace the local Indian slaves who had been decimated. The new slaves worked the coffee, sugar cane, and gold mining industries in Puerto Rico. During the 18th century, as gold mining ceased to be one of the major industries in Puerto Rico, slaves worked mostly in coffee plantations and sugar cane fields. By royal proclamation slavery was abolished on 22 March 1873.