When Spanish settlers arrived, Coamo was inhabited by the
Taino. Modern archeology has found evidence of at least four pre-columbian villages in the territory that is today the Coamo municipality: • "Buenos Aires" village was located in the current downtown southern section, were today is Buenos Aires Street • "Baños de Coamo" village was located by the hot springs, across the river from the modern baths. • "Cuyón" village was located in what is now
Cuyón barrio • "Las Flores" village was located west of the Las Flores neighborhood in
San Ildefonso barrio. Artifacts found here suggest a high status
cacique lived here. It is believed the Coamo villages had strong ties with the coastal village "El Cayito" (in what is now
Santa Isabel municipality) and the "Toíta" village (in what is now
Cayey municipality) due to the large quantities of marine shellfish remains found in the Coamo and
Cayey villages. These springs were once rumored to have been
Juan Ponce de León's legendary
fountain of youth. In the early nineteenth century, a system of pools of varying depths, sizes and temperatures was constructed at the site of these springs to serve as a spa for the colonials. During the American invasion in the
Spanish–American War (1898), this site was the scene of one of the decisive battles of that conflict (the
Battle of Coamo). The American troops took possession of the island, and the spa was subsequently abandoned. Though the site lay in ruins for most of the twentieth century, it continued to be a landmark to the
Coameños, who would often go to bathe in its healing thermal waters. The pools remain, but the old buildings which once hosted the island's affluent and colonial soldiers are gone, except for the remains of one central wall structure. It has been preserved and incorporated into a fountain courtyard on the grounds of a popular tourist hotel and rest area and has replaced the ancient Spanish ruins. Puerto Rico was ceded by
Spain in the aftermath of the
Spanish–American War under the terms of the
Treaty of Paris of 1898 and became a territory of the
United States. In 1899, the
United States Department of War conducted a
census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Coamo was 15,144.
Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017 triggered numerous landslides in Coamo with the significant amount of rainfall. As of October 9, no one in Coamo had electrical service, only 15% of Coamo had access to clean drinking water, and several people on dialysis had died. Around 2,000 homes were partially or completely destroyed. The iconic was a total loss. == Geography ==