Pre-Columbian settlements and foundation According to sources, a
Taíno settlement called
Aymamón was located close to the
Culebrinas River. A resident of Aguada named Pedro de Arce wrote about the matter to the Spanish crown. In this document, widespread enthusiasm among the residents of the Aguadilla barrio in support for the idea is claimed. Following the celebrations, a larger Church began being built. In 1776,
Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra in his description of the towns of the island, mentioned it as the "new Town of
San Carlos de La Aguadilla." But it was not until 1780 that the territory was properly segregated, making the founding of the town official. Originally, Aguadilla was constituted by the
Victoria and Higüey barrios. The population in the town of Aguadilla continued to increase constantly mainly due to its excellent port and strategic location in the route of the boats. In 1776, when
Santo Domingo became independent for the first time, the loyalists of
Spanish descent emigrated to Puerto Rico, mainly to Aguadilla, which caused the population to continue increasing significantly.
19th Century, becoming a Loyal Village The early decades of the 19th Century brought with them several incidents that were a hindrance to the town economy, beginning with a large scale fire that destroyed most of the houses and had lasting repercussions. In 1825, hurricane Santa Ana struck Puerto Rico, destroying most of Aguadilla's orange farms. Don Pedro Tomás de Córdova mentions the road of Aguadilla formed by
Punta Borinquen and San Francisco, as the "anchorage of the ships that travel from Europe to
Havana and
Mexico". He adds that its "port is the most frequented in the Island due to the proportions that it offers to refresh all class of ship." After the Pedro J. Zamora Hospital opened in 1976, this facility became a private school. Train No. 3 was traveling from
San Juan to
Ponce carrying passengers to their different hometowns for the island general elections to be held that same day. It stopped at the Jiménez Station in Aguadilla for a routine
engineer and
boilerman exchange with Train No. 4 which was heading to San Juan. The territorial organization of Aguadilla did not change, until 1948, when the
Puerto Rico Planning, Urbanization, and Zoning Board prepared the map of the city and its barrios, and following instructions of city authorities, Higüey and parts of Caimital Alto barrios are annexed to
Downtown Aguadilla. During that decade, there had been a territorial dispute with Aguada, when that municipality claimed that the area belonging to Parque Colón was on their side of the Culebrinas river. The matter became contentious when a diversion was made of the original route in 1931, with Aguada mayor Julio César Román basing its complain on Law 60-1945, preparing a memorial with historical maps and other documents supporting its position that the old geographic divisions remained, which was presented before the board on September 20, 1946. The agency called for public hearings and a visual inspection, but emphasized that it had the sole jurisdiction to decide the outcome. In 1971, Aguadilla lost its spot as Senatorial District Head following an electoral reform that included it in the new Mayagüez-Aguadilla District. During that decade, the municipality emphasized industry, with a facility that fabricated aviation parts being established at the base's hangars in 1979. Five years earlier, an agreement to establish a
DeLorean Motor Company plant at Calero was publicly announced, but the facility was ultimately built at Northern Ireland. and the elementary school became the Esther Feliciano Mendoza Middle School. Centro de Adiestramiento y Bellas Artes (CABA) since 1979 has been the only public school of arts in Puerto Rico (7–12). Ramey is also the site of the Ramey Skating Park and a new
mariposario (butterfly farm) and the Ramey Shopping Center. By 1980, the population of Agadilla had risen to more than 54,600 residents, most of which lived in the urban areas of the municipality. The four radar systems used by the
Federal Aviation Administration for flights in and around Puerto Rico were damaged by
Hurricane Maria, and it took nearly two weeks to fix them. One of the radar systems is located in Aguadilla.
The 2020s In recent years, the town has gathered some international celebrity due to the release of a
Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) footage captured by a Customs and Patrol aircraft near
Rafael Hernández Airport on April 26, 2013, after the air traffic tower reported sighting a pinkish glowing orb flying near the facility. The 5-minute long thermal sequence was captured with a FLIR camera and released by the agency in September 2023, one of
several acknowledged by the government as filmed by an official source since 2018, becoming colloquially known as “The Aguadilla UFO Incident”. Initially sent to Homeland Security for analysis, the film was then remitted to the Air Force before ultimately being released to civilian groups interested in the topic. The Scientific Coalition for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (SCU) has called it the "most compelling" footage of the anomalous aerial activity. Since then, the footage has been replayed in several shows covering fringe topics, mostly aired in network television such as the
History Channel,
National Geographic and
Discovery Channel. Debate remains ongoing, with Chinese lanterns, drones, birds and balloons being proposed as potential explanations by skeptics. In September 2024, the municipal government filed a lawsuit against private consortium
LUMA Energy, citing collective losses related to the corporation's mismanagement of the energy distribution system. ==Geography==