Rainbow City, now known as the sector Arco Iris, in the corregimiento Cristóbal, is a section of the city of Colón in the Republic of Panama. It was originally built as segregated housing for Panama Canal employees and was developed into a proper town by the Canal Zone Government. During over a century of history, Rainbow City was home to some of Panama Canal's teachers, workers, and athletes. Early history During the French canal construction era, in the 1880s, the area occupied by Rainbow City today showed up in maps as a little settlement called Guava Ridge. By the time the United States acquired the rights to build the Canal in 1904, the area included a settlement at Folks River (called "Fox" River up to 1915), which consisted of "small, portable houses put up by the French and in bad condition," and "24 main buildings in three rows," between the railroad shops and the main line. There was also a settlement on the shores of Limón Bay, overlooking Telfer's Island. This area, which came to be known as Camp Bierd, included a few houses for families but mostly consisted of crowded one-story barracks for dock workers. Canal construction era In 1907, there were 2,439 men, women and children in the Cristobal District's "silver" quarters. The segregated school, with an enrolment of 166, was the largest colored school in the Canal Zone. Cristobal's constant activity, particularly in port and railroad traffic, provided employment to most of Silver City's men and guaranteed that the population of the segregated town continued to experience growth even as white settlements in the Canal Zone experienced sharp population drops as Canal construction drew to a close. In 1915, soon after the Canal was inaugurated, a survey of housing needs throughout the Canal Zone was conducted, and urgent need for more quarters was clearly identified for Atlantic Side towns. At the time, the population of Fox River was 932 and Camp Bierd was 1,818. The survey found that 500 apartments were needed for married employees in Fox River and Camp Bierd and that the barracks in Camp Bierd were filled beyond their capacity. To meet the immediate silver quarters needs, the Canal acquired a huge structure of 140 rooms, known as the "Long Building" or Noah's Ark. The first permanent town for "silver" workers was built in a landfill to the south and east of the Ark.