page_title: History of Guatemala City
section_title: "30 de junio" Boulevard
hierarchical_section_title: History of Guatemala City / 20th century / "30 de junio" Boulevard
caption_attribution_description: Español: Palacio de la Reforma en 1915
context_page_description: Human settlement on the present site of Guatemala City began with the Maya who built a city at Kaminaljuyu. The Spanish colonists established a small town, which was made a capital city in 1775. At this period the Central Square with the Cathedral and Royal Palace were constructed. After Central American independence from Spain the city became the capital of the United Provinces of Central America in 1821.
  The 19th century saw the construction of the monumental Carrera Theater in the 1850s, and the Presidential Palace in the 1890s. At this time the city was expanding around the 30 de junio Boulevard and elsewhere, displacing native settlements from the ancient site. Earthquakes in 1917–1918 destroyed many historic structures. Under Jorge Ubico in the 1930s a hippodrome and many new public buildings were constructed, although peripheral poor neighborhoods that formed after the 1917–1918 earthquakes continued to lack basic amenities.
  During the Guatemalan Civil War, terror attacks beginning with the burning of the Spanish Embassy in 1980 led to severe destruction and loss of life in the city.
context_section_description: Conservative elite members from the time of Rafael Carrera and the new coffee elite that was formed during the presidency of Justo Rufino Barrios moved their homes to the area around "30 de junio" Boulevard, on the south side of the city; also, certain native settlements were forcibly moved from Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala and relocated on the southeast section of the city, forming the "San Pedrito", "Ciudad Vieja" and "Villa de Guadalupe" neighborhoods. Guatemala City also expanded a little bit to the north, especially along "Simeón Cañas" Avenue, at the end of which was the Temple of Minerva, where president Manuel Estrada Cabrera celebrated the student parades in honor of the Greek goddess Minerva, and the Guatemala Relief Map was built in 1905.  President Estrada Cabrera moved his residence to "La Palma", located where in 1955 the "Teodoro Palacios Flores" national gym had been built. Toward the end of Estrada Cabrera presidency in 1920, the population of Guatemala City was around 120,000.
caption: "La Reforma Palace", on the "30 de Junio" Boulevard.  Built under José María Reyna Barrios between 1892 and 1898 and later destroyed by the 1917-18 earthquakes
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