Background
Tulio Larrínaga was born at Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico.
Tulio Larrínaga was born at Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico.
He studied at the Seminario Conciliar of San Ildefonso in San Juan before coming to the United States, where he studied civil engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York (1865 - 1868).
He is said to have taken part in the preparation of the topographical map of Kings County (Brooklyn) and as a member of the technical department of Badger & Company to have worked on the construction of the Grand Central Station, New York.
Returning to Puerto Rico, he was later appointed architect for the city of San Juan, and is reputed to have designed the first building with steel framework erected in that city. In 1880 he built the first railroad in Puerto Rico, introducing American rolling stock on the island.
For almost a decade (1880 - 1889) he was engineer for the Provincial Deputation, being prominent in the construction work in San Juan harbor, and in directing the extensive road construction of the island. Under the autonomous government, granted Puerto Rico by Spain in 1898, he was sub-secretary of public works.
After the American occupation, he again assumed direction of construction work in San Juan harbor. While the Foraker Bill was being discussed, he came to Washington with a political delegation, asking for home rule. In 1902 he was elected a delegate to the insular legislature for the district of Arecibo. Here he advocated important measures favoring agriculture. He was elected resident commissioner for Puerto Rico in 1904 and twice reëlected, serving from March 4, 1905, to March 3, 1911.
In 1905 he interceded for the continuance of the Puerto Rican regiment, which was to be suppressed, and in 1906 presented a law project for the amending of the Foraker Bill. He represented the United States at the Third Pan-American Congress in Brazil (1906) and the United States Congress at conferences of the Interparliamentary Union at Berlin (1908) and Brussels (1910). In 1905 President Wilson appointed him a member of the Executive Council of Puerto Rico. He was also president of the agricultural commission and a member of the insular library commission. He died of heart trouble at Santurce, a suburb of San Juan.
On June 22, 1879, Larrínaga married Bertha Goyro Saint Victor, whose father was a Spaniard but whose mother was French. They had five children.