History

SAN LUIS

History

Historical review of San Luis

On April 18, 1756, Easter Sunday, twelve thousand French soldiers landed on the beach of Santandría under the command of the Marshal of France, the Duke of Richelieu, transported by a powerful fleet led by Admiral Marquis de la Galissonère.

The military expedition concluded with the assault on the castle of Sant Felip and the British capitulation, signed on June 29 of the same year.

The idea of grouping the numerous farmsteads scattered throughout the southeast of the island led to the birth of a new urban nucleus during the brief French domination (1756-1763).

The start of construction work on the church in 1761 ended a dispute, which lasted for some years, between the French Administration and the rural owners who claimed their rights over the Binifadet scrubland, the place chosen to build the temple, which was placed under the order of Saint Louis IX, King of France. On January 8, 1762, the French Court authorized the governor of the island, the Count of Lannion, to parcel out the land adjacent to the temple for the construction of housing, thereby satisfying the needs of the inhabitants of the area. The intendant Antoine de Causan drew the plan for the future town, which presents an orthogonal layout typical of the urban planning conception of the time, and he even named the streets, some of which endure as a memory of the French foundation of the town of San Luis. Hyacinthe Gaétan de Lannion was a lieutenant general of the Royal Armies and governor of the island, where he died on October 2, 1762, at the age of 43, and was buried in the Church of Santa María, in Mahón. The French, however, could not see their work finished, since in 1763 they had to cede the island to the British by virtue of the Treaty of Paris. Since its foundation, San Luis remained administratively linked to Mahón, except for the three constitutional periods of the 19th century. But it was not until June 7, 1904, during the reign of Alfonso XIII, that the Provincial Council reached the agreement to separate the town of San Luis and its farmsteads. Two months later, on August 7, 1904, the new town hall was established, and Pedro Tudurí was elected mayor.