Cebu City Walking Tour🚶, Osmeña Avenue, Philippines

Osmeña Boulevard is a main road in Cebu City, Philippines. It is the main street of the city, running roughly northwest-southeast, connecting the old town of San Roque near the port and the modern residential Capitol Site area.

The avenue starts from MJ Cuenco Avenue in the east, extends northwest to Fuente Osmeña Roundabout, and ends at Escario Street. At the north end of the avenue, the Cebu Provincial Capitol Building is a famous terminal landscape.

Osmeña Boulevard was built during the American rule to connect the Spanish colonial town of Cebu and the surrounding areas of the new city opened up by the US government. It was originally named Jones Avenue in honor of William Atkinson Jones, the initiator of the Philippine Autonomy Act in 1916.

On March 29, 1960, it was renamed Doña Pepan Boulevard in honor of Sergio Osmeña’s first wife, Estefania Veloso Osmeña, who died in 1918 in the mansion and estate they owned along the avenue.

Historically, it was also Cebu Route 1 in the 20th century. A 1978 decree reinforced the change to what is now Osmeña Boulevard. Picture 1 shows the southern end of the road, which is currently closed to traffic for people to walk freely on the street.