Village to Village: Mangilao

This is #5 in my V2V project where I post a picture of a village sign and some info about the village.

Give it up for my home village! MUNGI TOWN! Woop woop!

Mangilao derives its name from the word ilao, which means to look for something. In the past, hunters and fishermen would go to Mangilao to search for crabs, deer, wild pigs, and fish. The mayor of Mangilao is Nonito “Nito” Castro Blas and he has been the mayor since 1988. Makes me wonder who holds the record for longest Guam Mayor in office.

Mangilao seems to me like it’s actually two villages. One side of Mangilao is the location for a number of GovGuam agencies: Department of Corrections, Department of Youth Affairs, Department of Agriculture and Department of Public Health and Social Services. That side of Mangilao is also the center of Guam’s higher education campuses – University of Guam, Guam Community College and Pacific Islands University. Other notable schools in Mangilao are Henry B. Price Elementary School, Father Duenas Memorial School, and my high school alma mater, George Washington Senior High School. (GO GECKOS!)

On the other side of Mangilao, up the back road to Andersen, there’s Latte Heights, Latte Plantation, Banyan Heights… all which are residential communities that branch out to border northern villages Dededo and Yigo. See what I mean about it seeming like that area is a village of its own? It’s not, though. It’s all Mangilao.

In the 1920s, naval Governor Henry B. Price launched a vigorous “back-to-the-soil movement” to convince Chamorros to develop their agriculture and become self-sufficient. Governor Price built a road into the area as well as a school to encourage farmers to live in Mangilao during the week and return to their homes on weekends. After the war, the village saw a lot of growth with thousands of construction workers employed by the military who moved to the village. Roads and houses were built to accommodate the workers, and grocery stores began to line the village’s main road. (Guampedia)

In 1960, the population of Mangilao was 1,965. Today it’s over 15,000. “Rapid development in this village has made it quite populated, as it is now the home of many Micronesian islanders who have chosen to migrate to Guam.” (Guam Mayors Council)

Learn more about Mangilao from Guampedia: http://www.guampedia.com/mangilao/

Some of my favorite things in Mangilao are: Pagat Cave, Tagu’an Point (1,000 Steps) and George Washington High School. GO GECKOS!

Shoutout to all my favorite first cousins in Mangilao. You know who you are. 😉

Raise your hand if you’re from Mangilao! They don’t call it Mungi (Månnge’) Town for nothing. Månnge’ means delicious, ergo, people from Mangilao are so deliciously good we’re mångge’.

“Of course we don’t mean that literally. It’s just that we’re really into the sense of taste.” – Pale Eric