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Cupey, San Juan, Puerto Rico

  • 3 min read
  • 4 chapters

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History

Established in 1878, this barrio was a former ward of the now defunct town of Río Piedras. It was divided into the "subbarrios" of Cupey Alto and Cupey Bajo. It is named for the Cupey tree, sometimes spelled copey (Clusia rosea), which is indigenous to the Caribbean. It belongs to the family Clusiaceae. Linguistically, cupey or copey most likely come from the Taino language (cubey) and might or might not share a lexical relation to the name Cuba.

Cupey was in Spain's gazetteers until 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 an unincorporated territory of the United States. In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted a census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Cupey barrio was 1,834.

In 1956, the Puerto Rico Legislature integrated the town of Río Piedras and the town of San Juan. Today, Cupey is the largest barrio in San Juan in area.

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