Fiestas patronales (patron saint festivals) are held in the central plaza every year.

These Spanish regulations also stated that the streets nearby should be comfortable portals for passersby, protecting them from the elements: sun and rain.

[7] Located across from the central plaza in Arecibo barrio-pueblo is the Catedral San Felipe Apostól,[9] the second-largest Roman Catholic church in Puerto Rico.

After the ceiling of the central nave was damaged by the 1918 San Fermín earthquake it was reconstructed in concrete.

In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted a census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Arecibo Pueblo was 8,008.