Municipality of the judicial district of San Sebastián.
There is no sufficiently clear information regarding the original municipal government of Fuenterrabía, as it was founded under the charter of San Sebastián. Gorosabel believes it may be inferred that it was the same as that of this city. The oldest ordinances known are those confirmed by the Catholic Monarchs (in Burgos) on December 30, 1496; its town council was composed of two mayors, a provost, two senior jurors and four junior jurors, a sworn clerk, and a syndic prosecutor. According to these ordinances, this number of council members was to be maintained, with their election taking place on the first day of January each year by four persons appointed by an equal number of electors designated by lot from among the mayors, the provost, and the senior jurors. New ordinances were drawn up by the corregidor, Licentiate Diego Ruiz de Lugo, on May 9, 1530, and were confirmed with certain restrictions and modifications by Queen Joanna I at Ocaña on March 31, 1531. They consist of 170 chapters and deal with the election of council members, their powers, supplies, distributions, inspection of weights and measures, salaries of employees, public hearings of the mayors, accounts of municipal property and revenues, and other matters of government, policing, and municipal administration. These ordinances were later altered with regard to the method of electing council members by virtue of the royal decree of October 13, 1597, according to which the election was to be carried out by six electors chosen by lot from among the voting residents attending the act. Another decree issued in Madrid on November 4, 1671 approved an agreement by the city whereby the election of the treasurer was to take place each year after that of the mayors, in the same manner as theirs. Everything changed with the general law of January 8, 1845, whose provisions regulated the government of the towns of Gipuzkoa. Other provisions relating to supplies, price controls on foodstuffs and wages, levies, the submission and examination of accounts, and other aspects of economic administration were likewise repealed by the same law and specific decrees. In 1860, the municipal corporation of Fuenterrabía consisted of a mayor, two deputy mayors, and nine councillors. Fifty-five farmsteads in the Jaizubia district, under the jurisdiction of this city, belong to the parish of Irún, and even in military matters were required to serve under the banner of this town, as d by an enforceable judgment issued on September 1, 1618.
Water service. Regarding the wells and fountains used in the city before the modern water supply , F. Portu reports in this list:
“There were 3 fountains on the outskirts of the town, two almost in the same moat and the third in the Magdalena district, with water that was generally good, though not very abundant, used by most of the residents; in addition, at the foot of the eastern slope of Olearso, half an hour away, there was an extremely abundant spring of excellent water, but no work was ever done to take advantage of it; this lack caused great damage during sieges, and so it was decided to construct wells, of which there were 5 public and 9 in private homes, not counting many others in gardens that had replaced ruined buildings; the fortress house and adjoining warehouse had their own; there was also a large cistern with very good water near the Santa María gate on the interior side, but it was destroyed when the wall was blown up in 1794.”
The first water supply was established in 1880 using springs from the Jaizubía slope, and was later expanded in 1903 and 1915.
Electricity. Public lighting began in 1898 under contract with the company Electra-Irún-Endara.
Lighthouse. Fixed green light service at the end of the North Pier, visible from four miles. At the corner of the same pier is a fixed white light visible from 4 miles, and at the end of the South breakwater a fixed white and red light, in sectors, also visible from four miles.
Hospital. Built in 1750, the hospice that housed the needy of the city declined in the 19th century. This hospice, which also provided home care, regained importance in 1863 thanks to the physician Mariano de Lumbier.
The Brotherhood of Saint Peter. Dating from 1361, its statutes regulated every aspect of the professional and social life of the town’s seamen. The importance of this institution persists today, with around 500 members. It celebrates the Kutxa Festival on St. James’ Day with the delivery of documents and account books by a young woman who carries the chest on her head, symbolizing the transfer of powers to the major abbot elected that day.
Archives. In 1688, the Town Hall noted the absence of some documents and ordered that those held by private individuals be handed over, entrusting their organization to Juan Díaz Zamorano. In 1772, it was decided to move the archives from their location under the main altar of the parish to a more suitable place in the bell tower. Until 1914, they were installed on the second floor of the town hall, then moved to the upper part of the building. In 1892, D. Serapio Múgica was appointed archivist, a position he held until 1926.