Santa Mesa is a district in Manila, Philippines. It is surrounded by the Pasig River on the southwestern side, and by the San Juan River on its southern and eastern side. Land borders include the districts of San Miguel to the west and Sampaloc to the north; and to the northeast is Quezon City. Santa Mesa was formerly a part of the Sampaloc district, from which it was partitioned and separated after it had its own parish in 1911. The parish is now known as Old Sta. Mesa (Poblacion), which extends from Victorino Mapa Street to Magsaysay Boulevard. (formerly known as Santa Mesa Boulevard and Calle Santa Mesa) Etymology The district's name comes from the Jesuits, who christened the area Hermandad de Santa Mesa de la Misericordia ("Brotherhood of the Holy Table of Mercy"). The local parish church had for its titular Sacred Heart of Jesus, which formed part of the phrase the "Center of the Table is the Sacred Heart which all Graces and Mercy flowed down." The Tuason family are the landlords of Santa Mesa during the Spanish colonial period offered an obra pía ("pious work"), and provided social services to the people Doña Albina Tuason also donated the Land where the Church is located even right at this modern days. A more popular folk etymology is that the name is a corruption of the Spanish term Santa Misa ("Holy Mass"). History Santa Mesa was situated in the alluvial deposits at the confluence of Pasig and San Juan Rivers. It was owned by a Jesuits religious order during the Spanish Era, and it is in this period that Santa Mesa got its name. Santa Mesa is better known for its role in the Philippine–American War, in which the area became a battlefield during the Philippine–American War. The conflict started when Pvt. William W. Grayson shot a Filipino soldier in San Juan Bridge between Santa Mesa and San Juan. In late 2003, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines had determined that the conflict did not happen on San Juan Bridge, but at the juncture of Sociego and Silencio Streets. Up until the early American period, Santa Mesa was just one of the barrios that comprised Sampaloc, which was a town of the defunct province of Manila before it was absorbed by the city of Manila upon its chartering in 1901. In 1911, Santa Mesa became a separate religious