Balboa, Panama

Balboa is a district of Panama City, located at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.

History

The town of Balboa, founded by the United States during the construction of the Panama Canal, was named after Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the Spanish conquistador credited with discovering the Pacific Ocean. The name was suggested to the Canal Zone authorities by the Peruvian ambassador to Panama. Prior to being drained, filled and leveled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the hilly area north of Panama City was home to a few subsistence ranches and unused marshlands.

The town of Balboa, like most towns in the Canal Zone, was served by Canal Zone Government-operated schools, post office, police and fire stations, commissary, cafeteria, yacht club, service center and recreational facilities. Balboa's children were educated at the Balboa Elementary School, Balboa High School, and the private St. Mary's School. The town was also home to two private banks, a credit union, a Jewish Welfare Board, several Christian denomination churches, civic clubs, a masonic temple and a YMCA.

Until 1979 when the Canal Zone was abolished under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaties, the town of Balboa was the administrative center of the Canal Zone, a U.S. territory. The Panama Canal's Administration Building, former seat of the Canal Zone Government and Panama Canal Company, is located in Balboa Heights and currently houses the Panama Canal Administration (ACP).

Balboa Naval Transmitting Station

There was a VLF-transmitting station of US Navy near Balboa for transmitting orders to submarines, which went in service around 1915.

Current highlights

Balboa is now considered part of Panama City's corregimiento of Ancón. Since its incorporation into the Republic of Panama, Balboa has been redeveloped to enhance the port's capacity and to adapt to private ownership of houses and commercial enterprises. The emphasis on exploiting Balboa's location has resulted in increased car traffic, air pollution and the degradation of the town's former harmonious layout. The demographic changes resulting from the departure of most of the town's American population has also brought the closure of most of the town's former public facilities and institutions, including Balboa High School and Balboa Elementary School.

Sightseeing highlights for anyone visiting Balboa today include the Administration Building, the Goethals Memorial, the Prado, the remaining English-language churches, the somewhat well preserved architecture of the Canal Zone era, and two handicrafts markets.

As it was during the Canal Zone (1904-1979), Balboa is the seat of the Panama Canal's administrative offices and the port of Balboa, one of Panama's main ports. The population as of the 1990 census was 1,214.

For historical perspective see:

• Mellander, Gustavo A.; Nelly Maldonado Mellander (1999). Charles Edward Magoon: The Panama Years. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial Plaza Mayor. ISBN 1563281554. OCLC 42970390.
• Mellander, Gustavo A. (1971). The United States in Panamanian Politics: The Intriguing Formative Years. Danville, Ill.: Interstate Publishers. OCLC 138568.

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