St. Louis history

Church of San Joaquin

San Joaquin Church, after restoration conducted by Father Michael Bautz was
in early 1829, a modest shrine of guano-covered table and walls was built to the devotion of San Joaquin, San Luis Patron Saint of the West.  In 1835, construction began on a church in masonry and tile, funded by Juana Romero and her husband Don Joaquin de Zayas, which was completed in 1845, becoming the most important of the province at that time.

St. Louis and the Struggle for Independence

Vueltabajera territory was not highlighted much in the independence struggle, since generally the most revolutionary movements occurred in central and eastern territories because of the importance of the military and political economy.  However, great Vueltabajo personalities stood out among them as brothers Sanluisena Gustavo Padron and Conrad both commanders of the Liberation Army, natives of St. Louis.  Conrad and Gustavo took up arms on 24^th October 1895 in Guane and joined the Liberation Army in January 1896. There were numerous Sanluisena territory clashes between Spanish soldiers and mambisas troops.

One of the major combat operations was carried out on 15^th January 1896 at a site near Tirado called “Yellow Palmar”, where mambisas troops were under the command of Antonio Maceo.  In the same year on February 2nd there was another clash between a Spanish column under General Velasco Hernandez mambisas forces whose leader is unknown. A third action occured on 25^th April of that year, directing mambisas forces was Lt. Col. Rodriguez. It is known that another confrontation took place known as Tirado II, with the ringleaders of action, being Lieutenant Colonel mambises Serapio Garcia.  A column was composed of the Spanish battalions San Quentin # 47 and San Marcial.

In September 1885, the municipality had a population of 8054 inhabitants.  They wanted to implement Article 9 of the Finance Act, which disintegrated the municipalities whose population was less than 8000 inhabitants.  Under this law Alonso de Rojas, integrated Consolacion del Sur and San Diego de los Banos integrated Paso Real de San Diego. But the people of St. Louis were undeterred and soon presented population data, thereby bringing St. Louis the retained status of Municipality.

Formation of the first bodies Defenza and Regulations

Sarah Cordoneda was promoter of culture in the town, organizing cultural activities, which overviewed the construction of important works in San Luis, such as a bust of Jose Marti that is located in the park opposite the church of San Joaquin, Avenida Paseo de Juana Romero and the first playground. In his honor, one of the schools in the municipality bears his name. He died on 12th April 1947 aged 60.

Virgilio Gonzalez Solar
In the field of music, the composer Virgilio Gonzalez Solar, was born in San Luis, on 27^th November 1907. Much of his work has appeared in films in Mexico, Argentina and Cuba. Some of the most important are “key your shoe nail” in the Mexican film “Love and sin,” “The glasses”, the Mexican film “Lazos de fuego “, “The tidal wave,” which appears in the film “With the devil in the body” and the Cuban “Alonso Newsletter” and “I told a rose”, contained in the Cuban film “Manuela”.  He died in Havana on 14^th October 1985.
Rebecca Marble
It’s another name that recalls the fruits of musical composition at San Luis, this cult masterpiece authored numerous songs and was a beautiful addition to the hymn of St. Louis.
Curiosities
San Luis currently has a movie theater where they regularly present important figures of Cuban culture and the public Sanluisena is one of the most expressive and grateful.  It was not until 1909 when it produced the first movie projector. As there was no electricity yet, it was necessary to use projections such as a dynamo, a battery and even a steam engine to produce electricity. Around this time they also performed the first plays.

Education and Health

Like the rest of Cuba, after 1^st January 1959, Triumph of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, the sectors of education and health, private before, began to have a public character. San Luis currently has a University Polyclinic, which bears the name “Gil Rojas Epifanio.” Martyr of the war in Angola is a hospital, a Municipal Unit of Hygiene and Epidemiology (UMHE), an Integrated Medical Emergency (SIUM), Program Maternal and Child Care (PAMI), a “Home for the Elderly”, a “Campaign Anti Vector”, etc.  For education they have several primary schools, secondary education and a polytechnic high school, besides having a seat at the provincial university “Hermanos Saiz.”