Las Marías is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located north of Maricao; southeast of Añasco; south of San Sebastián; east of Mayagüez; and west of Lares. Las Marías is spread over 13 barrios and Las Marías Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city).
Las Marías was founded on July 1, 1871. Don Benito Recio y Moreno was the acting mayor during the founding of Las Marías.
Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 and became a territory of the United States. In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted a census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Las Marías was 11,279.
On September 20, 2017 Hurricane Maria struck the island of Puerto Rico. In Las Marías, multiple landslides left highways covered in mud, trees and debris. In some areas of Las Marías there were more than 25 landslides per square mile due to the significant amount of rainfall and wind.
