Castillo San Felipe Del Morro - Historical Time Line

Historical Time Line

1493 – Spanish settlers from Caparra found San Juan.

1508 - spanish colonized the area

1539 – Construction of the first harbor defenses at El Morro and La Fortaleza authorized by King Charles V.

1587 – Engineers Juan de Tejada and Juan Bautista Antonelli lay out the main design for El Morro still seen today.

1589 – Governor Diego Menéndez begins new construction at El Morro.

1595 – Sir Francis Drake attacks El Morro unsuccessfully by sea. Gunners from El Morro shoot a cannonball through the cabin of Drake's flagship. To impede Drake's ships from entering the bay, a metal chain was drawn across the entrance. Drake was defeated and many of his ships sunk.

1598 – George Clifford, Duke of Cumberland, attacks from the land side in June of this year, the only time El Morro was taken in battle. English forces move into the fortress, however weakened by dysentery they leave in November.

1625 – The Dutch under the command of Captain Balduino Enrico (also known as Boudewijn Hendricksz/Bowdoin Henrick) attacked and invaded San Juan from the "La Puntilla". El Morro held out under the leadership of Spanish Governor De Haro and Captain Juan de Amezquita of the Puerto Rican militia, but the city was sacked and burned.

1630 – Governor Enrique Enríquez de Sotomayor begins construction of the city walls. Work continues until 1678 to encircle the city completely.

1765 – After the siege of Havana in 1762 by the British, King Charles III appoints Field Marshal Alejandro O'Reilly (Alexander O'Reilly) and Royal Engineer Tomás O'Daly (Thomas O'Daly) to reform San Juan's fortifications and reorganize the garrison to make the city a "Defense of the First Order".

1787 - An earthquake damages the structure of both San Felipe del Morro and San Cristóbal.

1797 – Ralph Abercromby (General Ralph Abercromby) and Henry Harvey (Admiral Henry Harvey), with a force of 7,000–13,000 men, invaded the island of Puerto Rico. Captain General Don Ramón de Castro and his forces repelled the attack. Abercromby and Harvey were defeated. This was to be one of the largest invasions to Spanish territories in the Americas.

1825 – Well known Puerto Rican pirate, Roberto Cofresí was jailed and later executed within the fort's walls.

1843 – First lighthouse in Puerto Rico constructed atop the castle.

1898 – On 12 May, US Navy warships shell El Morro in a day-long bombardment, damaging the tip of the main battery. Six months later, Puerto Rico becomes US territory by terms of the Treaty of Paris which ends the Spanish-American War.

1899 - The Department of the Navy rebuilds the lighthouse tower as an octagonal reinforced concrete structure using the iron structure as reinforcement. A new lenticular lens is installed. By 1906 a crack, through and around the top of the tower, directly under the lantern requires its demolition.

1908 – Present lighthouse seen atop El Morro built by the United States Navy.

1915 – First shots of World War l fired by Lt. Teofilo Marxuach on behalf of the United States. Marxuach, a native of Arroyo, Puerto Rico, fired the first shot in what is considered to be the first shot of World War I fired by the regular armed forces of the United States against any ship flying the colors of the Central Powers. Marxuach, who was a member of the "Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry" and Officer of the Day, on 25 March 1915, opened fire on the Odenwald, an armed German supply vessel, as it was trying to force its way out of San Juan's bay.

1942 – El Morro was still an active military post during World War II. The U.S. Army added concrete artillery observation posts and an underground bunker to El Morro to defend against possible German attacks.

1949 – San Juan National Historic Site is established.

1961 – The U.S. Army moves out of the forts of Old San Juan, and they become the jurisdiction of the United States National Park Service, to be preserved solely as museums.

1983 – San Juan National Historic Site declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.

1992 – El Morro's grounds are returned to their historic 18th century appearance as part of quincentennial commemoration of the discovery of Puerto Rico by Christopher Columbus when modern roadways and parking lots are removed. El Morro now generates tourism revenue by being open to tours.