San Carlos Institute:
Like walking into a Cuban history book
En español: Instituto San Carlos: Como entrar en un libro de historia de Cuba
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By Miguel Pérez
The books, posters, sculptures and paintings are all historic, but even more historic is the building that houses this museum. You are in the San Carlos Institute, the Cuban soul of the Florida keys, and you feel like you have walked into a history book. After all, this is where Cuban freedom fighters organized a revolution to free the island from Spain some 150 years ago. This is where patriot José Martí managed to accomplish something that had eluded Cubans who longed for independence: UNITY! After raising moral and financial support in New York and Tampa to start a military insurrection in Cuba, Martí still had to convince the Key West Cuban community to join his crusade. Some had been reluctant to follow him, until they heard him speak at the San Carlos Institute. |
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This is where Martí finally led the formation on the Cuban Revolutionary Party, and where he became known as "the apostle of Cuban freedom."
According to a video documentary shown here, the San Carlos is “the cradle of the Cuban independence movement,” and “the most important Cuban patriotic shrine outside of Cuba.” Founded in 1871 to promote Cuban culture and patriotic ideals, the San Carlos was modeled after Cuba's prestigious San Carlos Seminary, a higher learning institution renowned for promoting liberty, justice and human rights, creating the ideological base for Cuban independence. In Key West, the San Carlos was a public elementary school and patriotic community center, supported by donations from Cuban tobacco factory workers, and dedicated to serving the needs of the Key West Cuban community. It was one of the country’s first bilingual and integrated schools. “One hundred years before Martin Luther King and the integration of public schools in the South,” says the documentary, “white and black children attended classes at the San Carlos.” |
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The community center was known as “La Casa Cuba,” the main gathering center for Cuban exiles who wanted to see their homeland become an independent nation, especially the leaders of the revolution.
"They all came through here," says Yolanda Maloney, a former Institute student who now works at the museum as a volunteer. And you can hear immense pride in her voice. "Maximo Gomez, Flor Crombet, (Antonio) Maceo, Vicente Aguilera. They were all here. This is where many of them got together Martí." |
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If you are Cuban, that’s when you look around just to contemplate the significance of standing there — like in an awesome cathedral of patriotism. If you are not Cuban, that’s when you probably think we are a little weird, but that’s okay.
The San Carlos started in a small wooden building on Ann Street in 1871 and moved to a larger location on Fleming Street in 1884. “Two years later, the building was burned to the ground by Spanish sympathizers who sought to demoralize the Cuban community and its aspirations for a Cuba Libre,” the documentary says. |
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In fact, the 1886 fire that started at the San Carlos was the largest in Key West history, destroying city hall, a church and a large portion of the commercial center, killing seven people and injuring many others. Cubans confirmed that it was started by Spanish arsonists because pro-Spain Havana newspapers reportedly ran an article describing the great Key West fire the day before it actually took place.
The exile community responded to the Spanish affront by rebuilding the San Carlos in the heart of Key West, at its present location on Duval Street in 1890. |
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When Martí addressed a mass gathering at the San Carlos on January 3, 1892, after having met with various factions of the Key West Cuban community, he announced that they would all work together, as a united front to fight for Cuba's independence. The rest is Cuban history!
Marti returned to Cuba on April 11, 1895 and was killed in battle only a month later, on May 19, 1885. But when Cuban independence was finally achieved seven years after his death, “Jubilant exiles gathered at the San Carlos on May 20, 1902 to celebrate," the documentary says. “The Cuban people held the San Carlos as a treasured relic. The newly established Republic of Cuba opened the consular office at the San Carlos . . . and named a former San Carlos student as the first Cuban consul to Key West.” |
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But even in the 1900s, the San Carlos had to fight to survive. It was damaged beyond repair by a hurricane that devastated Key West in 1919. Thanks to funding from the Cuban government and designs by Cuban architects, the present two-story building opened on Oct. 10, 1924. Its huge rooms, high ceilings and marble stairways make you feel like you are in an Old Havana mansion.
Yet again, “Everything changed when Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959 and put in place a totalitarian communist dictatorship that remains in power till this day,” the documentary explains, noting that more than two million Cubans have fled the island and that many did it, or died trying, on makeshift rafts heading for the Florida keys. “When the United States broke diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961, the financial assistance provided to the San Carlos by the Cuban government seized and the Key West Cuban community alone was not able to sustain the aging building,” the documentary explains. By 1973, physical deterioration forced the school to close, and the building remained close for almost 20 years. According to the San Carlos' website, “During this period, many of the San Carlos' books and records were lost to the elements or to vagrants who sought shelter in the vacant building. When a portion of the building facade collapsed in 1981, injuring a passing tourist, some called for its demolition.” |
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But when investors with little respect for history proposed to reopen the San Carlos as cabaret theater, the Cuban American community in Key West and Miami stood up to prevent it.
Led by Miami lawyer Rafael Peñalver Jr., who headed the Florida Hispanic commission, and despite courts that had ruled against them in 1985, they managed to save the San Carlos as a Cuban heritage center. And they spent a few more years raising more than $3 million to bring the San Carlos back to life again. |
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“A beautifully restored San Carlos Institute opened on Jan. 3, 1992, exactly 100 years from the day when Jose Martí delivered his first address at the institute,” the documentary says. “Over 5,000 persons attended the three-day reopening celebration.”
The San Carlos is now a museum, art gallery, library, theater, conference center and gift shop. The museum is a showcase of Cuban history, especially the history that occurred within its own walls. The theater has hosted countless Cuban heritage events and its 20-minute rotating documentary is a great Cuba/Key West history lesson. |
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Amid the many statues, busts and images of Martí and other Cuban patriots, perhaps most prominent is a statue of Father Felix Varela, who taught in Cuba's San Carlos Seminary and is recognized as the ideological father of Cuban independence. His statue serves as another reminder of the connection between the two institutions.
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The six original provinces of Cuba
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This place is so historically significant that two Cuban American congressmen have chosen to take their oath of office here.
The San Carlos is operated by the not-for-profit corporation Instituto Patriótico y Docente San Carlos, Inc. The land was purchased by Cuban exiles after the 1886 fire. But because the building was rebuilt with funds from the Cuban government after the 1919 hurricane, the legitimate ownership of the property has been in dispute. |
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Over the years, there have been efforts to take control of the estimated $4 million property, both by Cuba’s Communist regime and by greedy Florida lawyers who seek to collect damages for victims of that regime by forcing the sale of the San Carlos. So far, the courts have not allowed it. But they keep trying. And if they were to win, the San Carlos could ironically be lost to the victims of the Communist regime.
I don't believe this is likely to happen, not to the San Carlos, not with is history perseverance. “In many ways the San Carlos Institute mirrors the history and tribulations of the Cuban nation,” the documentary says. “Like the phoenix, the San Carlos Institute has risen from the ashes time and time again to reclaim its place in Cuba’s history.” |
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