DOCUMENTATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL REMAINS OF CENTRAL AGUIRRE FOR A NATIONAL REGISTER NOMINATION Dr. Luis Pumarada-O’Neill, Industrial Archeologist Dr. Fernando Plá-Barby, Professional Engineer
THE INTRODUCTION OF SUGAR TECHNOLOGIES INTO PUERTO RICO Sugar cane was introduced into Puerto Rico in 1516 from neighboring Hispaniola, where it had been brought by Christopher Columbus himself. No sugar was produced in Puerto Rico, however, until 1522-23 when a plantation with a water-powered mill was set up in the West Coast by means of a loan from the Spanish Crown. The sugar technology used in 16th Century Puerto Rico comprised an edge roller stone mill, copper kettles for the extraction and evaporation of the juice respectively, and earthenware vats for the crystallization of the sugar. The massecuite thus produced was cut up and distributed into open-ended conical vases. For weeks these were kept covered with a clay matrix that was kept saturated with water. The water that oozed out of the clay filtered down the molasses-covered sugar and dripped out the bottom of the inverted cone, carrying dissolved molasses. The remaining sugar cone was cut up into three pieces of different quality and colored sugar, which was then dried and packed into wooden boxes for export. Other mills founded during that century in the island used teams of horses to turn the edge roller mills. These mills were very inefficient, and the flattened pieces of cut-up cane stems that were left behind the circling stone still had enough juice in them to merit a second extraction effort. This was done using a wooden press, similar to the ones used around the Mediterranean to extract olive oil. The need for two mills, the requirement of cutting up the cane stems into pieces, and the need to lay on and pick-up these pieces from the circle traveled
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by the roller demanded a lot of slave labor. The labor problem was solved by the introduction of the vertical three wooden roller in-line mill developed in South America around 1660. These allowed the cane stems to be introduced between an outside and the center roller, and allowed a second pass between the other outside roller and the center piece. This much better and cheaper machine must have been introduced into Puerto Rico around 1700. By that time, Puerto Rico’s sugar industry had declined markedly. Only a few sugar cane plantations existed around San Juan and small patches in San German and Coamo. Two or three plantations produced clayed sugar for export, and the rest mostly molasses for the local market. A chronicler writing in 1776 described a state-of-the-art plantation recently founded near Caparra by Irish immigrants. They used more efficient metal-clad vertical mill rollers, and evaporated using a set of copper pans set in line between a single fire and a chimney. This technology was called “Jamaican train” in Puerto Rico. It saved a lot of labor and trees by allowing the use of bagasse instead of firewood as fuel for the evaporation process. The installation of such a modern plantation had resulted from a liberalization of regulations decreed by the Spanish Crown in the second half of the 18th Century. At the time, Puerto Rico was becoming a successful exporter of tobacco and coffee. Sugar cane again began to attract investments in areas near San Juan, which was the only port allowed to export. The sugar industry really began to take off after 1804, when ports around the island were also allowed to carry on export shipping. In the early 19th Century, the world market changed and clayed sugar gave way to muscavado sugar. The latter was produced by pressing pieces of crystallized massecuite into large barrels with perforated bottoms, through which the molasses dripped out. The sugar left behind is called muscavado, and it was shipped in the same barrels with new, solid bottoms. About 1822 the island’s first steam-powered mill was installed in a Ponce plantation owned by Irish brothers. This event, followed by a dozen other such mills in the next few years, marks the entrance of Puerto Rico into the Industrial Revolution. The expensive steam mills had to expand their canefields and work day and night to be profitable. Medium and small plantations with animal-powered “trapiche” mills persisted next to the steam “ingenios”.
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In the second half of the century, the price of muscavado fell as a result of beet sugar production in Europe, and the United States became the main market for Puerto Rican sugar. Puerto Rico’s first “modern” sugar mill was established in 1874 in Vega Baja. Although small by 20th Century standards, this “central” used vacuum equipment for evaporation, and centrifuges for separating sugar from molasses. These centrales were even more capitalintensive than the steam mills with Jamaican trains. Actually, several such ingenios had acquired centrifuges and installed vacuum pans for final evaporation since early in the second half of the 19th Century, but none had until then substituted their Jamaican trains with the multiple-effect vacuum evaporators. Central San Vicente, as it was called, was followed by a few other centrales in the same decade. However, the additional revenue from the reduced unit costs produced by the “centrales” was only marginally above their costs due to the high interest rates. Any disruption, such as a dry spell, resulted in losses and bankruptcies. Under such risky circumstances, trapiches and ingenios owned by less ambitious owners survived next to the small centrales into the first decade of the 20th Century. The market, economic, and political changes brought about by the U.S. invasion and takeover of 1898 propitiated the foundation of larger, very profitable and well-capitalized centrales. These promptly swallowed the surrounding plantations and closed down their smaller, inefficient mills, and eventually expanded sugar cultivation into hills and mountain valleys. Although a number of Puerto Rican residents took advantage of the opportunities created by Puerto Rico’s inclusion into the U.S. tariff barriers and the increased credit availability which occurred around 1900, the largest and most profitable sugar mills were founded by American sugar firms which landed a few weeks or months after the troops. Two of these centrales were Aguirre and Guanica on the island’s South Coast and Fajardo on the East Coast. These not only used state-of-the-art technology and agricultural practices, but they were among the largest in the world at the time of their foundation and required the simultaneous creation of a railroad to haul in the cane from remote fields. During the first half of the 20th Century, the expansion of sugar cane cultivation and the increased productivity which resulted from the use of the latest processing, handling and agricultural technologies in most of its sugar estates vaulted Puerto Rico into the top sugar cane producing countries in the world. The small Caribbean island supplied about 10% of the
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U.S. demand for sugar at an extremely profitable rate of return, but at a high social cost resulting from an extreme concentration of wealth and the merciless exploitation of the workers, the economic costs of a one-crop economy, and the environmental costs of deforestation, soil exhaustion, and pollution caused by fertilizers, herbicides, erosion and sedimentation.
THE PRODUCTION OF SUGAR FROM CANE IN MODERN MILLS The production of sugar from cane in modern mills, called “centrales” in Puerto Rico, is a complicated process. It requires abundant and large equipment, large amounts of water, and large amounts of energy, which is produced as part of the operation of the factory. Extensive tracts of land are required to grow the cane, and a large transportation system is necessary to bring the sugar cane to the centralized factory. Railroads, trucks and trailers are the usual modern means of transportation. Upon arrival to the “Central”, the cane is weighted and sampled to determine its sugar content. Then it is unloaded into a washing station, where gross debris is removed by warm water jets. This debris is usually soil that was picked up in the field. The cane then goes into a conveyor were it is cut in small pieces to facilitate processing. Process steps The first step in the actual processing is crushing the cane and extracting the juice, a process that requires large amounts of mechanical energy. The juice is extracted after rollercrushers pairs break the pieces and turn a uniform bed for the mills that follow. A sugar cane mill usually consists of three big rollers in a triangular arrangement, one at the top and two at the bottom . The finely chopped cane passes between the top roller and the bottom ones. The mills are placed in series, called a mill tandem, usually six mills per tandem. As the cane moves between the mills in a tandem it is sprayed with its own juice (water after the next to last mill) to dissolve more sugar. Each consecutive mill applies increasing pressure to the cane to improve the extraction. The mills separate the raw juice from the fibers. The fibers, called bagasse or “bagazo”, are used as fuel in the boilers which provide steam energy for the
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whole process. The raw juice goes to a weighing station, were its weight is recorded and used to monitor the extraction effectiveness of the mills. The second step is clarification of the juice. This process removes the solids in suspension; it consists of heating the “raw” juice, adding lime, and allowing the suspended solids to interact with the lime and settle to the bottom. The solids are then removed from the settling tanks, called clarifiers, and sent to vacuum filters. In these filters the juice remaining in the solids is extracted and returned to the process. The remaining solids, or “cachaza”, is dumped on the fields as fertilizer. The third step is the concentration of the clarified juice by evaporation. This is done in multiple effect evaporators. Evaporators, or effects, are closed vessels were the juice is boiled in a partial vacuum. In a multiple effect evaporator each successive vessel is at a lower pressure than the preceding one, and therefore at a lower boiling temperature. Each effect uses the water vapor removed from the preceding one to heat and boil the juice. Each succeeding effect is the condenser for the vapors removed in the previous effect. Usually the first effect is above atmospheric pressure and uses steam as the heating agent. The last effect is connected to a barometric condenser which maintains the vacuum in the set of effects. Multiple effect evaporators may consist of three (triple effect), four (quadruple effect) or more evaporating units. A syrup leaves the multiple effect evaporators and is stored in tanks, awaiting the next processing step The next step is the formation and separation of the sugar crystals. The concentrated juice, or syrup, goes into the vacuum pans denominated “A” pans, where it is concentrated further to begin crystallization. Vacuum pans are individual closed vessels, each connected to a barometric condenser to maintain a vacuum. Heat is provided by an internal heat exchanger using steam. The liquid containing sugar crystals that leaves these vacuum pans is called “A” massecuite. The “A” massecuite goes into the “A” mixer, and then to the “A” centrifugals where the crystals and the remaining liquid, called molasses, are separated. The centrifugals are rotating sieves which separate the solid crystals from the liquid by centrifugal force (hence the name). The liquid portion, called “A” molasses, is returned to vacuum pans where further crystallization is induced. Meanwhile, the “A” sugar goes to a weighing station and then to a
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warehouse. From the second vacuum pan, the now “B” massecuite goes into the “B” mixer and then to the “B” centrifugals, where the crystals and the liquid are separated. The “B” sugar goes to the weighing station, while the liquid part, now called “B” molasses, goes to the “C” vacuum pans for similar further processing. From these third step vacuum pans, the now “C” massecuite goes into the crystallizers. These are open containers where the massecuite is kept for several days until sugar crystals grow. While at the crystallizers, the massecuite is kept moving by a slowly rotating mechanism. The crystals formed in “C” massecuite are small and not of commercial sugar grade. From the crystallizers, the “C” massecuite goes into the “C” mixer and to the “C” centrifugals. Here the crystals are again separated from the remaining liquid The remaining liquid is called “final molasses” and goes to storage tanks. Final molasses has commercial value as a raw material for distilling spirits and alcohol. The inferior crystals, called “C” sugar, are mixed with syrup to form “sugar magma”, which is used as seeding material to induce crystallization at the “A” and “B” vacuum pans. The sugar obtained from this process is called brown or raw sugar. Although some of it is used as it is, the major portion goes to a refinery where it is converted (refined) into the common white sugar that we are familiar with.
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INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CENTRAL AGUIRRE SUGAR MILL Based on the following: Campbell, Curtis, "Central Aguirre Sugar Company: A Brief History." Unpublished, undated manuscript in the University of Puerto Rico's Historic Archives of Architecture and Construction, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. Central Aguirre. 50th Anniversary Annual Report, 1949. Central Aguirre Sugar Company, 1950. Del Toro, Alberto and Rodríguez, Luis. "Informe Estudio Batey Central Aguirre." Unpublished Report in the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1991.
Four Bostonians sailed to Puerto Rico in October 1898, shortly after the military invasion of the island by the United States. Their purpose was the establishment of a private banking firm on the island. Two of them, William Sturgis Hooper Lothrop and John Dandridge Henley Luce, had received training in the banking business through their association with the well-known Boston banking house of Kidder, Peabody & Co. Joining them were Henry DeFord and Francis Dumaresq. As bankers, the group was fairly successful. Under the name of DeFord and Co., they conducted a general banking business based in Ponce and were appointed fiscal agents for the US government for the purpose of exchanging Puerto Rican for American currency. Almost from the first, however, the foursome found itself far more interested in the potential of the Puerto Rican sugar business than in commercial banking. In 1899, when DeFord and Co. was established, Puerto Rico's annual sugar production amounted to approximately 66,000 tons, much lower than its full potential. When Puerto Rico became officially a territory of the US on April 12, 1900, Puerto Rican sugar thereafter imported into the US became classified as “domestic”, thus exempt from US tariff duties. This gave the island a large competitive edge over foreign sugar producers subject to the tariff. Foundation of Central Aguirre Available for purchase was the Aguirre estate (Hacienda Aguirre), consisting of 2,009 acres, a large part of which was at that time devoted to pasture and cattle raising. Only 285 acres were under actual cultivation, mostly dedicated to sugar cane of the Cristalina variety.
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The estate owned and operated a small, underdeveloped sugar mill, located not far from a magnificent harbor. DeFord and Co. purchased the Aguirre estate in February 1899 for $100,000. Immediately thereafter, three other estates, adjacent to Aguirre, were optioned for purchase. Hacienda Carmen, 4 miles west of Aguirre, consisted of 937 acres of which 315 were under cultivation (of these, 285 acres grew sugarcane). Hacienda Josefa, 5 miles east of Aguirre, contained 1,300 acres of which 350 were under cultivation. Hacienda Amadeo, a small property of 231 acres lying next to Carmen, was likewise leased. At the same time, contracts were made with three neighboring estates, Haciendas Esperanza, Margarita, and Caños, for the grinding of all the sugar cane which they produced. DeFord & Company installed 12 miles of light, narrowgage railroad, consisting of spur tracks connecting the various estates and a loop to the mill over which sugar cane could be transported for grinding. The original rolling stock included 2 small engines and 50 cane wagons. No real attempt was made to plant a sugar crop during the 1899 – 1900 season. However, the lands under cultivation were harvested. A tugboat and barges were purchased for transporting the season's sugar production to a nearby port. The sale of that first season's sugar production resulted in a profit of $14,280.17. In no year since then until 1968 did the company fail to make a profit. The Aguirre property, located in the relatively dry southern part of Puerto Rico, was watered by means of a 12-mile irrigation canal from the Majada River. The other properties acquired were irrigated by means of wells and pumping stations. The financial requirements of the venture rapidly outgrew the capacity of DeFord & Co. Additional land had to be cleared and put under cultivation. Agricultural machinery had to be purchased. Irrigation facilities had to be expanded. A modern sugar mill had to be built next to the bay. Thus, on July 1, 1899, a partnership known as the Central Aguirre Syndicate was formed with an initial capital of $525,000. The capital invested in the Syndicate was increased to $900,000 in 1900, to $1,500,000 in 1901, and to $2,000,000 in 1903. As of April 1, 1900, the Syndicate owned 2,183 acres of land and was operating an additional 2,468 acres under lease. The construction of a new, modern mill, begun late in 1899 with a Boiler House, a Mill House, an Electric Power Plant, and a Clarification House They were all made of steel frame covered either with asbestos or steel sheets. Construction culminated in 1901 with the Boiling House and a Crystallizer House. The same year provided for the construction of: a Caustic
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Soda and Lime Station, a Granulator Building, and a Sugar Warehouse (Warehouse No. 1). The latter used a wood frame. This mill was located next to Jobos Bay, 1.3 kilometers south of the Hacienda’s old mill. From the standpoint of sugar production, the first season of real operation, was that of 1900-1901. During that season, the Syndicate cut cane on 1,315 acres of its own land and on 646 acres of land harvested under contract. Total cane production was 66,100 tons. The net result of the harvest was approximately 6,100 tons of raw sugar. Big profits, continuous growth and modernization: 1902-1941 In 1902, the mill’s capacity was expanded significantly by the addition of a second tandem, additional boilers and another chimney. These were installed by Ponce-based engineer Robert Graham. The mill’s capacity was brought up to 2,000 tons of cane daily. It had 32 centrifuges. A Boiler House was erected at a cost of $5,440. In that same year, an opportunity presented itself for the Syndicate to purchase from the French-owned Compañía Ferrocarrilera de Puerto Rico its franchise for a railroad line between the cities of Guayama and Ponce, a distance of about 40 miles along which lies the Aguirre property. In accordance with the terms of this franchise, it was necessary to incorporate a separate railroad company, and this was done under the name of the Ponce and Guayama Railroad Co. (P&G RR), which became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Syndicate capitalized at $500,000. In 1903 the factory was expanded with a general utility building with additional space for evaporators. The 1904-1905 crop produced 22,272 tons of sugar and a profit of $558,536 for the Syndicate. In 1905, a new corporation, “Central Aguirre Sugar Companies”, was established with a Board of 11 trustees by the same stockholders, and it took over the Syndicate. In 1906, Aguirre purchased a new, larger tandem which must have replaced its original mill from 1900. Supplied by Fulton Iron Works Co. from St. Louis, the new tandem included a 2-roll cane crusher and four triangular roller mills. Upon arriving at Aguirre around 1910, one would observe old but commodious structures for the hotel, office building, etc.; a harbor alive with ships, barges, and lighters; many people of all descriptions; horses, autos, trucks, bull carts; and, on some days, a farmer’s market on the plaza near the mill. The grand house (Casa Grande), which had a schoolroom on the third
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floor and overlooked great stretches of the Caribbean Sea, was occupied by Patrick McLane, General Manager, employed in 1906. New buildings were erected for expanding operations and for the new technologies which were being introduced. A new Boiler House was built in 1910. A year later, a Lumber Warehouse and a Pipes and Iron Bar Warehouse were added. Both had wooden frames. In 1912, the General Warehouse was constructed. In 1913, it was necessary to have a small tractor repair shop, which cost $750. Between 1908 and 1914 the government of Puerto Rico established an irrigation system to serve the south coast of the island. Mainly as a result of this, production of sugar rose from 27,100 tons to 47,117 tons between 1914 and 1918. The 1918 report stated: “This excellent report is a further demonstration of the great value of the Government irrigation system without which we should have been unable either to have this large crop or to maintain our fields in their present satisfactory condition.” The old Sugar Warehouse No. 2 was built on 1916 for $11,533 with a wooden frame. The original Sugar Warehouses Nos. 3 and 4 were built in 1918 and 1920 respectively. The first had a steel structure while the second had a wooden frame. In 1919, Central Aguirre Sugar Companies was dissolved and Central Aguirre Sugar Company, a corporation, was formed in its place. Meanwhile, Luce and Company, S. en C., a limited partnership registered in Puerto Rico, was created. This firm held title to all of the lands formerly owned by the Central Aguirre Sugar Companies. By virtue of a Declaration of Trust executed by the stockholders of Central Aguirre Sugar Company, it acquired an interest in the earnings of Luce and Co. This move meant to evade the existing, though unenforced local law forbidding corporations to own more than 500 acres in Puerto Rico. During 1920, the price of raw sugar, duty-paid at New York, reached an all time high of 23.57 cents per pound, a figure never even approximated at any other period during the past fifty years. This was due to the World War I loss of beet sugar production in Europe and to shipping losses. In 1920, Aguirre's profits rose to $5,194,052. To take further advantage of the high prices, in January, 1920 Aguirre acquired from A. Hartmann and Company lands and an interest in the Machete sugar mill in nearby Guayama. Luce and Company, S. en C., acquired the lands, and a new Puerto Rican corporation was formed to take over the mill property. 27.5% of the new Central Machete Corporation was owned by the McCormickHartmann family from Arroyo. Machete produced 11,231 tons of sugar in 1921.
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Faced now with two mills and more land, a new concrete office building, roofed in copper sheets, was constructed in 1924. It was radically renovated in 1967 and is still in use. The existing two-story railroad passenger station was built in 1922 for $5,000 Another existing structure, the Main Machine and Pattern Shop was built in 1921 for $46,377. It measures 100’ x 100’. All the stock of Santa Isabel Sugar Company, which owned and operated Central Cortada, with a grinding capacity equal to that of Machete, was acquired in 1925. This added a third sugar mill to the company’s production facilities. The purchase of these properties permitted corporation to increase its raw sugar production from approximately 50,000 tons annually to over 100,000 tons. The Ponce and Guayama Railroad Company proved its importance to the company both as an adjunct to efficient operation and as an earning asset. After the purchase of the two mills above, both served by an extended P&G RR, the railroad was operating approximately 31 miles of track, mostly for freight. In 1928, two new structures were erected: a Carpentry Shop which was replaced in 1948, and a new General Warehouse, built for $14,668. A new Boiler House was erected in 1927 for $5,620. In 1928-29 the Boiler House was expanded at a cost of $20,841. In 1921 Aguirre had built its own foundry northeast of the sugar factory. By 1930, the sugar produced totaled 125,644 tons, the largest in the entire history of the company except for 1934 (130,240 tons), 1950 (133,290 tons) and 1964 (134,281 tons). The new dock, constructed for $100,000, allowed the direct hoisting of sugar bags from railroad cars into waiting ships, facilitating the export of an increased production. In 1932 a Welding Shop was built near the Foundry. In 1938, a large tank for final molasses was converted into Sugar Warehouse No. 7, at a cost of $10,500. In the following year a small wooden office was built for the factory superintendent and for payments. Another sugar warehouse, No. 5, was built in 1935 for $26,301 with a nominal capacity of 10,000 tons. These warehouses stored the production of all the firm’s mills, brought in by the Ponce & Guayama RR for export through the Aguirre dock. In 1934, the United States legislature passed the Jones-Costigan Act, controlling the production, import and marketing of sugar in the US. As a result of its quotas, which treated Puerto Rico worse than foreign countries such as Cuba, sugar production dropped nearly 20%
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in 1935. Seeking to counteract lower production by increasing efficiency, two new boilers were installed in the Aguirre mill in 1937. In 1938, the existing Bagasse Warehouse was erected adjoining the Mill and the Boiler Houses. In that same year, the Electric Shop, mill offices, and laboratory facilities were set up next to the factory at a two-story building which cost $10,023. Sugar Warehouse No. 6 was built in 1939, for $31,492 and a capacity of 10,000 tons. A description of Aguirre in 1940: It was reached by means of a straight road about onequarter mile in length, lined with tall Royal Palm trees. At the end of the stretch of road, where it is crossed by cane railroad tracks, one bears east and soon passes a large modern concrete hotel, built in 1926, having adjacent to it a large restaurant, glimpses of a swimming pool, and a club house. Across from the hotel is a group of one-story dwelling houses each with a lawn and white picket fence, all capturing the architectural flavor of old New England. Proceeding down to the mill gates, one sees on the left auxiliary structures, including several molasses tanks, a foundry, warehouses, and many mill shops; and on the right, more dwellings. Past the mill down to the harbor one finds a new, long dock, constructed in 1930. North and west of the factory were a new office building, built in 1924; a modern Post Office; an enlarged “general store” containing a variety of foods, supplies, and appliances; and a concrete theater building with a barber shop at one end. Off to its right was a restaurant. There were some thirty American families, with the men mostly specialists, including some “crop men” who were on hand only during the crop period, plus sugar boilers, cane weighters, etc. During the crop season the mill operated around the clock, except for some down time on weekends for cleaning and adjustments. In 1940, the Aguirre mill was provided with a new, four-level boiling house 80’ x 149’5” and 70’ high. This magnificent building still houses the evaporators and vacuum pans. Unfavorable conditions met with mechanization: 1942-1966 In December, 1941 the United States entered World War II, bringing labor and material scarcities and uncertainties to the U.S. sugar business, which in the case of Puerto Rico were worsened by its island condition. These events combined with actions brought against large sugar corporations by the new populist government of Puerto Rico to control the exploitation of its land and its workers. In 1941, a quo warranto suit was brought by the People of Puerto Rico against Luce and Company, S. en C., Central Aguirre Sugar Company (a Puerto Rican corporation), and Central
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Aguirre Associates (the present Central Aguirre Sugar Company, a trust) in an attempt to show that the land holdings of Luce and Company, S. en C., in excess of 500 acres, were illegal. The matter was still unresolved in 1970, when the government expropriated these lands. In 1942, the store operation was sold to an independent corporation, Tybor Stores, Inc., following the approval of a 1941 Puerto Rican law which forbid firms to sell merchandise to their employees. On that same year, the Federal government took for military purposes over 1100 acres of land near the Aguirre mill. The war conditions caused a shortage of tank ships, and as a result, the mills' molasses tanks remained full and the product unsold. However, in 1943 and 1944 almost all of the sugar and molasses produced were sold to a US Agency. On the other hand, war regulations had the company spend over $115,000 on growing food crops. The 1944 crop reflected in its scant 78,261 tons the war-caused lack of fertilizer and the 20% of land set aside for food crops, all worsened by a drought. In 1946 the scarcity of adequate fertilizer was still holding down production. As the company tried to introduce new labor-saving methods in field operations due to the post-war shortage of labor, a month-long labor strike occurred. The post-war rising wages stimulated increased mechanization. In 1947 Luce & Co. completed selling most or its bulls (oxen) as it accelerated the purchase of tractors, trucks, and mechanical harvesting equipment. Automotive power replaced the bull-cart as a means of transportation, while new implements, directly connected to tractors and controlled by hydraulic power, began to perform practically all field operations. The expansion of the company's operations in Puerto Rico continued. In 1947 the company purchased, dismantled and sold neighboring Central Caribe mill, bringing the cane from its land to Central Aguirre. In 1948 the firm invested about one million dollars in properties and equipment. Of this total, $600,000 was divided among: a pioneering station for handling bulk sugar; tractors and trucks to replace cattle; and additional buildings, including two hurricane-proof warehouses (No. 1 and No. 2), a new Foundry building and two new repair shops replacing older structures (a Tractor Repair Shop and a Carpentry Shop), and five first class dwellings. A system for bulk handling of sugar, the first of its kind in the West Indies, became fully operational in 1949. Of the 1949 crop, Central Aguirre's entire 93,000 ton output, over threequarters of the company’s raw sugar production, was shipped in bulk. The system was designed by James P. Percy, Vice President in charge of engineering, with all the work done
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by Aguirre employees. The bulk raw sugar was delivered to the dock in railroad cars with 2.5 ton buckets, loaded mechanically by means of overhead chutes. The cars carrying these buckets were then pulled into the dock, where the buckets were dumped directly into the hold of the waiting freighters. In the next two decades, bulk handling of raw sugar, handled by conveyors instead of railroad cars, became standard practice in the Puerto Rican sugar industry. The post-war sugar quota, combined with other current conditions, had very ill effects in Puerto Rico. The 1949 quota of 1,914,701 tons left 96,265 tons of over-quota sugar, which could not be marketed until 1950. However, of a quota reallocation of 300,000 tons made in September 26, Cuba, two thirds of whose sugar industry was American-owned, was awarded 204,241 tons. The Central Aguirre Sugar Co. operated three sugar mills, Central Aguirre, Central Machete, and Central Cortada, for most of the period between 1925 and 1967. About two thirds of the sugar cane ground in these mills was produced on the canefields operated by Luce & Co., the rest being purchased from other colonos (cane growers). The cane crushed by Aguirre for other colonos in 1949 totaled 334,194 tons. During the first 50 years, the P&G railroad delivered most of the sugar cane received by the firm's three mills, and transported to the Aguirre dock all the raw sugar produced from it. During the 1949 crop season, the train delivered 746,307 tons of sugar cane. It included in its rolling stock 11 locomotives, 798 cars. In the years following the proportion of cane delivered by trucks and tractor cart trains increased and became dominant in firm's last three decades. Aguirre, for many years up to the 1960s, produced about 10% of the entire Puerto Rican sugar crop and 1% of the total US consumption. Its annual production ranked 2nd or 3rd in the island during most of those years. During its first fifty years, the average investment capital in the company has been $3,059,412. In that period, the company has earned an aggregate of $60,472,793, an average of $1,209,456 annually. This average annual net income equals 39.5% of the capital invested. Such a success of the Central Aguirre enterprise, according to its administrators, depended, on the one hand, upon sound and conservative financial management and, on the other, upon progressive production management. Of utmost importance to the Puerto Rican sugar industry in general and to the Central Aguirre Sugar Company in particular was the continued development and application of new production and distribution techniques. Only through advances of a scientific and technical
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nature, indeed, was it possible for Central Aguirre to maintain its earning capacity (until 1967) in the face or rising production costs, particularly since the end of World War II. In 1901, when Central Aguirre harvested its first sugar crop, the average yield of sugar per acre was 3.09 tons. During the 1940s, the yield averaged 5.1 tons of sugar per acre in spite of the fact that most of the sugar lands have been under cultivation for over a century, needing large quantities of fertilizer annually to maintain productivity. The completion of the government irrigation system in 1914 and its subsequent expansion helped to reduce the problem of water supply, but Aguirre's fields were still dependent to a large degree upon their own irrigation well and pump facilities. As part of the modernization following World War II, overhead spray irrigation, which doubles the effectiveness of the water applied, was been installed by Luce and Co. It proved both efficient and economical. Artificial irrigation likewise permits the application of fertilizers with the water, thus reducing the cost of fertilization. Until the war years, insect and blight control had been largely accomplished by the expensive method of weeding out infected canes. Thereon, the firm began to control pests by more scientific methods, including the application of repellents with the irrigation water. Chemical herbicides replaced manual weeding with hoes to large extent. Luce and Co. constantly carried on field experiments to develop new types of sugar cane with increased sugar content. A very successful type of cane, known as BH 10/12, was introduced in 1925 and was still highly productive in 1950. In that year the firm had its largest production since its foundation: 133,290 tons of sugar. In spite of the fact that during the 1950s the costs and labor shortage kept increasing, the firm continued to be profitable and its owners invested in keeping it competitive. The following buildings were added in the factory area: a Truck Repair Shop, which cost $16,411; a Vulcanizing Plant, for $4,614; plus a garage with a fire station. In 1950 a new, high speed tandem with 18 36"x78” rolls was ordered to replace old mill No. 2. It was installed in 1951, together with two new Dorr clarifiers, 6 high speed centrifugals, and one 1000 kW turbogenerator. 31 new cars were bought for the P&G RR. These improvements, plus several new houses in the adjacent company town, cost $1,250,000. In 1953, Aguirre established a research laboratory for $17,082, at a building just east of the factory. In 1962, 17 centrifugals were ordered at a cost of $30,000. Meanwhile, negotiations were under way for the purchase of Central Guamaní in Guayama. Aguirre's fourth mill, which was purchased just prior to commencement of next year's crop, ground 2,496,000 tons of cane in
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1963. To better link the mills, 3 additional Diesel locomotives were purchased to replace 3 obsolete steam engines, keeping the P&G RR's total to 12. The firm’s 1964 season rendered its highest ever total of sugar production: 134,281 tons. However, the following year, 2000 acres of canefields in Guayama were expropriated by the government and ceded to an oil refinery in spite of the company's warning of its impact on its economic viability. Central Guamaní closed down immediately. In 1966 Aguirre was showing a profit of $1,434,935. While many other Puerto Rican sugar companies were in the red, Aguirre invested $1,146,000 in mechanical cutters and aerial irrigation improvements. The downfall: 1967-1990 A new Board of Trustees, including European, American and Puerto Rican investors, was elected on January 26, 1967, ousting Aguirre's long time managing interests. The profit for the year ending July 31, 1967 was $575,835. It was to be the company's last profit. In 1968, in spite of the strategic closing of Central Machete at the end of 1967, there was a loss of $3,394,278. Central Cortada was closed at the end of 1968, leaving only the firm's most modern and efficient mill, Aguirre. Beset by annual losses of millions of dollars, the Board of Trustees voted on July 12, 1970, to close the sugar division as soon as possible, and to find other applications for the land holdings. On September 10, 1970, the Government of Puerto Rico, seeking to preserve agricultural lands and to keep the Aguirre jobs for over a thousands citizens, expropriated the firm’s sugarproducing and agricultural lands, sugar mills, and some other assets. The court-appointed price was $50 million. This move was part of a policy of the government of Puerto Rico which was put into effect as the existing mills were closed by their private owners. With the mill and its lands managed at a loss by the governmental Puerto Rico Sugar Corporation, the government little by little sold tracts of land, abandoned fields, canals and rail spurs, but it continued operating Central Aguirre until April 15, 1990. Since then, the mill and its rail system have been undergoing a piecemeal dismantling process. Abandoned facilities are being rented or allowed to deteriorate. The more modern machinery and other facilities are often sold or taken away to the few mills remaining in operation.
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EQUIPMENT AT CENTRAL AGUIRRE DURING ITS PEAK YEARS Based on The Gilmore Puerto Rico Sugar Manuals, 1930 - 1964.
Central Aguirre’s technology remained state-of-the-art for most of its life. Aguirre reached its peak technology and daily processing capacity of 7500 tons of sugar cane per day around the year 1964. During this year total cane milled was 790,737 tons and sugar production reached 88,583 tons, for a high yield of 11.2 weight percent sugar per unit weight of cane. After that year, the evident decline of the sugar cane business in Puerto Rico discouraged investments in technology. Aguirre’s equipment in 1964, most of which remained in use until the mill closed down, consisted of the following. Mill tandems In 1964, Aguirre's cane milling equipment consisted of two mill tandems. No. 3 had a grinding capacity of 3000 TCD (tons of cane per day), and No. 4 a capacity of 4500 TCD. Tandem No. 3 comprised a single two-roll 32” (diameter) x 78” (length) Fulton crusher and 5 three-roll 34” x 78” mills. The first 4 mills were Fultons, and the fifth was a Farrel. The crusher was driven by a 200 h.p. wound-rotor motor; the 1st and 2nd mills were turned by a Fulton 28” (cylinder diameter) x 54” (stroke) Corliss steam engine; the 3rd and 4th mills by a similar engine; and the 5th mill by a William and Harris 28” x 48” engine. The tandem was preceded by 2 sets of Farrel type-K knives driven by a 125 h.p. wound rotor motor and a 300 h.p. squirrel cage motor. Tandem No. 4 consisted of six 3-roll Farrel mills driven by six 500 h.p. Westinghouse turbines. The tandem was preceded by a set of Farrel type K knives driven by a 300 h.p. motor, and a set of George Fletcher knives driven by a 450 h.p. motor. Both were squirrel cage motors. Cane handling equipment The cane handling equipment included a railroad car tipper for each tandem. Trucks were unloaded by crawler type crane on to the ground and then by grab on to the feeder conveyor on
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Tandem No. 4. A hydraulic truck dumper and a chain-pull unloader were eventually installed on Tandem No. 4. Juice handling and clarification Cane juice was clarified using a simple clarification process. There were 4 standard Dorr clarifiers: one with a 28’ diameter and one of 24’, both with four-compartments; and one 22’ diameter and one 20’ with three-compartments each. There were four tank scales of 10,000 lbs. capacity each for weighing raw juice. The juice heaters comprised 10 units with a total heating surface (h.s.) of 8166 sq. ft., and used both exhaust steam and vapor from a triple effect pre-evaporator. Evaporation and crystallization Cane juice was evaporated using first a triple effect, 28,500 sq. ft. h.s. Webre preevaporator, served by an S & K No. 37 jet condenser, followed by a quadruple effect 34,000 sq. ft. h.s. Webre evaporator, served by an S&K No. 41 jet condenser. Final evaporation took place in six vacuum pans: one Kilby 14’ calandria pan of 3,700 sq. ft. h.s. and 2000 cu. ft. capacity, equipped with an S & K No. 38 condenser; three 12’ calandria pans, 2800 sq. ft. h.s. and 1600 cu. ft. capacity each, with Webre mechanical circulators and S & K No. 37 condensers; one 12’ calandria pan of 2,800 sq. ft. h.s and 1600 cu. ft. capacity equipped with a S & K No. 37 condenser; and one 14’ calandria pan of 3,700 sq. ft. h.s and 2000 cu. ft. capacity. There were six 2000 cu. ft. and ten 1600 cu. ft. crystallizers for precipitating sugar in massecuite. Separation and storage of sugar and molasses Seven 30” x 48” Western States fully automatic centrifugals handled 1st and 2nd (“A” and “B”) sugars. Ten K-750 B.M.A. continuous centrifugals handled 3rd (“C”) sugars. Six concrete and steel warehouses existed in 1964 for storing bulk sugar. These warehouses were connected together by conveyors to provide increased handling capacity as follows: Warehouses No. 1 & 2, 8,000 tons; Nos. 3 & 6, 23,000 tons; and Nos. 4 & 5, 30,000 tons.
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Molasses were stored in three 4,500,000 gal. tanks. A fourth tank of 1,000,000 gal. capacity was used either for molasses or for aqua ammonia fertilizer. Another 1,000,000 gal. tank was used to store “aqua ammonia” fertilizer. Fuel oil was stored in a 100,000 gallon tank. Energy The steam generating plant consisted of one B & W Class XIII Stirling boiler of 1,265 h.p., 100º superheat, Ward furnaces; three B & W Class XXIII 1075 h.p., Stirling boilers, 100º superheat, Ward furnaces; and one Riley-Stoker 1,800 h.p., 75º superheat, Riley Stoker furnace. The electric plant consisted of one 750 kW G.E. turbo-generator, and two 2,500 kw G.E. turbo-generators. The surplus power generated was sold mainly to the public-owned power company. Evolution of the equipment until 1964 The earliest detailed records of Aguirre’s equipment which have been located are the Gilmore Sugar Manuals of the early 1930s. The evolution of its machinery prior to 1930 has been outlined in the preceding historical account. This includes the installation of a mill tandem begun in 1899, followed by the installation of vaccum evaporation equipment; the installation of a second tandem, additional boilers and another chimney in 1902, followed by additional evaporating equipment in the following year; the replacement of the first tandem in 1906 with a new, larger tandem consisting of a 2-roll cane crusher and four triangular roller mills; new boilers in 1910, and again in 1927-29. 1930
By 1930 Central Aguirre had a grinding capacity of 3,000 TCD. At that time cane was handled by two 12-ton electric cranes. Milling was done by mill tandems No. 1 and No. 2. Tandem No. 1 consisted of one 32” x 78” Fulton crusher, three 34” x 78” Birmingham mills and one 34” x 78” Farrel-Ansonia mill. Tandem No. 2 consisted of one 32” x 78” Fulton crusher, four 34” x 78” Fulton mills and one 34” x 78” Farrel mill. All mills were powered by Corliss steam engines.
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Cane juice was clarified at the time by 2 four-compartment Dorr clarifiers and 2 threecompartment 20’ Dorr clarifiers for each tandem. Evaporation was accomplished by one 2vessel pre-evaporator, one triple effect evaporator, followed by a Lillie quadruple effect forming a quintuple effect unit. There was also a Murphy quadruple effect evaporator. Crystallization was done in vacuum pans and crystallizer tanks. There were one 14’ Kilby calandria pan, one 14’ Oat coil pan, and three 10’ Oat pans. Each pan had its own barometric condenser. There were 42 assorted crystallizer tanks. Sugar crystals were separated from molasses using 28 American Tool centrifugals, each 40” x 24”. Raw sugar was packed in 310-pound bags, while Aguirre had a warehouse capacity of 180,000 bags. Molasses were stored in two 376,000-gal. and one 62,500-gal. tanks belonging to Aguirre, and one 1,000,000-gal. tank owned by the Puerto Rico Trading Co. Fifteen assorted fire-tube and water-tube boilers totaling 7,035 boiler h.p. provided steam. The Central's electric plant consisted of one Allis-Chalmers 750 kW turbo-generator, one G.E. 750 kW turbo-generator, and one G.E. 300 kW turbo-generator. This equipment provided power during the grinding season. During the dead season power was provided by two 240 h.p. Diesel engines connected to Westinghouse generators. No power was bought from power companies. 1934
In the 1934 milling season the Aguirre corporation installed at the beginning of mill tandem No. 1 a Morgan disintegrator, which reduced cane to a form of hay or excelsior. The milling capacity for this season was increased to 4,500 TCD. 1938
During the 1938 dead season, the Morgan disintegrator was discarded and the mill tandem designation was changed. Tandem No. 1 became No. 2 and the former No. 2 became No. 3. No significant changes in milling machinery were made. The steam plant, however, was greatly improved by the installation of one 1,075 h.p. Stirling unit which replaced two fire-tube boilers, increasing steam production capacity to 7,090 boiler h.p. Total grinding capacity was increased to 4,600 TCD, and an average of 4,022 tons were milled per day.
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1940
In 1940 the cane handling and milling equipment were essentially the same as in 1930. The evaporation section, however, was entirely renewed by the installation of a two-body Webre pre-evaporator and a Quadruple effect Webre evaporator. The Aguirre corporation built a new 80’ x 150’ multi-story Boiling House building and transferred all the evaporation equipment there. Four new calandria vacuum pans with condensers were installed, and the former Kilby 20’ calandria pan was relocated along with the crystallizers and centrifugals. Crystallizing capacity was 20,300 cu. ft. and comprised four 2,000 cu. ft. and nine 1,367 cu. ft. units. The centrifugals consisted of ten A.T.&M. for 1st sugars, six A.T.& M. for 2nd sugars, six Western States for 3rd sugars, and 6 A.T.& M. as auxiliary 3rd sugars. The steam plant had been greatly improved by 1940. It now consisted of one 556 h.p., one 521 h.p., two 509 h.p., one 1285 h.p., three 1075 h.p. Stirling boilers, and two Smith 400 h.p. units. The electric plant included one Allis-Chalmers turbo-generator 750 kW, one 750 kW Westinghouse turbo-gear reduction generator, one 750 kw G.E. turbo-generator, and one 2500 kW G.E. turbo-generator. 1941
In 1941, four Western States fully automatic centrifugals replaced the six A.T.& M. centrifugals. At this time Aguirre had an assigned sugar quota of 7,000 tons for local consumption and an additional 3,500 tons of direct consumption turbinado. 1947
In 1947 the Central started bulk sugar operations. During this year 93, 000 tons of raw sugar were shipped in bulk. Aguirre’s sugar production for this year was 74, 629 tons, of which 10,000 were turbinado sugar. Part of this amount must have been left from the previous year's grinding season. 1952
The next significant change in Aguirre's technology occurred in 1952. The cane handling equipment remained essentially the same as before, with the addition of electric cranes delivering to feed tables. The milling equipment was revamped. Tandem No. 2 was replaced by a 6 mill-set tandem driven by steam turbines and designated as Tandem No. 4. The
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grinding capacity went up to 6,000 TCD, but due to a shortage of steam and cane handling equipment Tandem No. 4 was run at 60% capacity. Cane juice was clarified with one 28’ and one 24’ four compartment Dorr clarifiers, and one 28’ and one 20’ three-compartment Dorr clarifiers. Evaporators were the same as in 1940, but a 14’ vacuum pan was installed, and the nine 1367 cu. ft. crystallizers were replaced by nine 1500 cu. ft. units. The four 2000 cu ft crystallizers remained in use. Ten A.T.& M. centrifugals for 1st sugars, six Western States for 2nd sugars, and twelve Western States machines for 3rd sugars separated sugar from strap molasses. The steam plant consisted of one 556 h.p., one 521 h.p., one 1,285 h.p., and three 1,075 h.p. for a total rated capacity of 5,587 h.p. The electric plant consisted of three G.E. turbogenerators: one 750 kW and two 2,500 kW. 1953
In 1953 one 2,000 cu. ft. and one 1,500 cu. ft. crystallizers were installed. Two 24” x 40” centrifugals were also installed for a total of 30 units. 1958
During the 1958 season, the steam plant consisted of one 1,265 h.p. Stirling boiler, three 1,075 h.p. Stirling boilers, and one 1,800 h.p. Riley-Stoker, for a total rated capacity of 6290 h.p. 1960
During the 1960 season the cane handling equipment included the two 1952 electric cranes and a 15-Ton Lorain crawler crane which took cane from either trucks or railroad cars and delivered it through an outside feeder table. Milling equipment remained the same, but the clarification process was changed from compound to simple. The Dorr clarifiers were still in use, but three 8’ x 16’ Eimco and two Carter juice strainers were used for clarified juice vacuum filters. Evaporation was improved by replacing the two-body Webre pre-evaporator with a triple effect Webre pre-evaporator with its own barometric condenser. The furnaces were equipped with fly ash arrestors to abate air pollution.
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1963
During the 1963 season the existing centrifugals were replaced by seven fully automatic Western States for 1st and 2nd sugars, and ten continuous process K-750 B.M.A. for 3rd sugars. Statistics for the period above The actual tons milled per day (TMD) increased steadily through most of these years. In 1949 Aguirre milled an average 3,701 TMD; in 1950 this number increased to 4,138 TMD; 4,893 TMD in 1951; 5,394 TMD in 1952; 5,573 TMD in 1953; and 6,040 TMD in 1954. This last year was probably the highest in Aguirre history. After 1954, TMD started declining although actual normal capacity reached 7,500 TCD in 1964. Aguirre's actual sugar production did not increase significantly over the last 60 years, as can be seen in the following table.
Year
Sugar (T)
1928
79,899
1934
77,096
1949
74,629
1950
81,368
1951
73,017
1952
80,256
1953
73,118
1955
69,978
1956
70,496
1964
88,583
During its peak years, Aguirre’s sugar yield in tons of sugar as a percentage of tons of cane milled was always above 10%. For the 1932 harvest and grinding season, Aguirre had the third largest tonnage in the island, 582,808 tons, and sugar production reached 73,188 tons.
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This is a very good 12.55% yield. In 1963 Aguirre produced 72,481 T of sugar, but had to grind 680,179 tons of cane, for a yield of 10.66%.Decline Yield is directly related to weather conditions as well as by agricultural practices and transportation. In its decline as a money losing operation, as the field practices and the mill’s equipment deteriorated, sugar yields dipped significantly below 9%. The reduction in sugar cane cultivation forced the shut down of mill tandem No. 3 and left an inefficient surplus capacity in the rest of the system. Aguirre’s productivity had declined greatly in all measures by the end of its lifetime in 1990.
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EVALUATION, SIGNIFICANCE AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The industrial part of Central Aguirre was the heart of a very important agricultural, transportation and manufacturing enterprise. Aguirre was the first large scale, complete sugar mill concern in Puerto Rico, the first of the large American mills founded in the decade following the US takeover of Puerto Rico in 1898. In the 1920s it became a world leader in sugar growing and processing technology, and remained so until the 1940s. The firm grew horizontally through the acquisition and operation of several other mills in adjoining areas, and vertically by creating and operating subsidiaries for such related upstream and downstream activities as production of sugar cane, rail transport between Ponce and Patillas, irrigation technology, and herbicides. Buildings and facilities Only a few buildings and facilities have been demolished or remodeled, and none of those is of major importance. The most historically significant buildings in the site are: the Sugar Factory; the Main Office Building and its Payees’ Office; the Train Dispatching Office, the Locomotive Roundhouse, and the Rail Car Shops; Sugar Warehouse No. 2, with its lower level rail loading station; the Main Machine Shop; the Main Blacksmith Shop; and the Luce and Co. Office Building. Other important structures and facilities are: the dock; the sugar conveyor system; the General Warehouse; the rail system; the cane core sampling towers; the Tractor and Agricultural Machinery Shop complex; the Foundry and Mold Shop; the Railroad Passenger Station; and the chimneys, especially the steel smokestack. Most of these buildings are in fair to good condition, and only the Luce office and tractor shops have been remodeled. Equipment Central Aguirre was established right after the turn of the century using what was then state-of-the-art equipment. The mill was a successful enterprise, and throughout their tenure its private owners not only renewed its equipment to keep it up-to-date but also pioneered the introduction of some facilities and equipment. As a result of this on-going renovation program, and of the frequent repairs and replacements with used machinery which marked its few years under government ownership, very little if any of the original equipment is left.
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At the time of its closing in 1990, Aguirre was not as before on the edge of sugar technology, but it was still a modern sugar factory. As such, its modern equipment had commercial value and much of it was dismantled and sold to other factories, mainly from Central America. Mill tandem No. 4 with its steam turbines (1952), all the centrifuges (1963), the two 2500 kW GE turbine-generator sets (dates unknown but the older one is prior to 1940, the other is newer) and the pollution control equipment (c.1975) for the chimneys, were all sold. Other missing equipment and facilities include mud vacuum filters; machine shop equipment; tanks; anvils; railroad rolling stock, rails and switches; the railroad car tilter; and cane conveyors. The remaining main sugar producing equipment is of historical significance. The quadruple effect evaporator was installed, along with three of the vacuum pans, around 1940, when the existing Boiling House was constructed. Another pan is older, from 1930; and the other one, also from 1939, was made by Ponce’s Porto Rico Iron Works. The triple effect evaporator was installed in 1960. The steam boilers and their furnaces are between 40 and 70 years old. The oldest surviving one is from 1928, the newest one is the Riley Stoker, installed around 1958. The crystallizers have been installed during the course of many years, but appear to be essentially all made by Aguirre personnel and only the capacity differs amount them. There are two crystallizers, however, which are from 1956, made in Philadelphia. The clarification equipment is definitely more than 50 years old. Some of the vacuum filters have been removed, possibly moved to other factories of the P.R. Sugar Corporation, the last owner of Central Aguirre and of most of the remaining sugar factories in Puerto Rico. However, Aguirre still has much of its important machinery and facilities in good condition, such as: two mud vacuum filters; one generator set; all four clarifiers; all of its juice heaters, evaporator bodies, crystallizers, barometric condensers, and vacuum pans; and all of its boilers and ovens. There are several shops around the factory, most of them containing equipment. The more modern equipment that had commercial value has been removed. What is left is significant or broken down equipment. There are some lathe, punchers, power hacksaws, hydraulic presses, furnaces, etc. which are more than 50 years old and in relatively good condition. However,
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there is no equipment which appears to be from before the founding of the mill, and a firm with Aguirre’s history would not install used equipment anyway. The railroad facilities and rolling stock are among be Aguirre’s most interesting remains. However, most diesel locomotives have been sold and the remaining ones are in a state of disrepair. There are many railroad cars, rails and other railroad equipment laying around the periphery of the factory in different stages of rust and disrepair. The historical significance of Central Aguirre’s remains does not lie primarily on its equipment, since it is incomplete and much of it was relatively modern anyway, but in its history as an industry leader in the Caribbean, the company town it created around the factory, and the building and equipment renovation and replacement process itself which kept it first as a very profitable enterprise and later on as a loss-minimizing government disinvestment project. Recommendations: The Aguirre sugar mill still conserves enough industrial buildings, facilities, equipment and machinery to make it a very significant historic site at the local, state and national levels. As a result, we recommend that:
the site be listed in the National Register;
no additional equipment be removed from the site, including shop equipment, railways or railroad rolling stock, without the approval of the State Historic Preservation Office;
the important structures in less than good condition be evaluated structurally and considered for repairs or stabilization;
the roof and openings of the sugar factory be repaired and/or sealed to protect the remaining equipment; and
any actions affecting the Aguirre buildings, facilities and equipment, such as rentals, remodeling and displacement to other parts of the site, be approved by the State Historic Preservation Office.
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APPENDIX
Hurricane update As a result of the path of Hurricane George on September 21, 1998, the industrial part of Aguirre suffered significant damages but still holds enough integrity to merit a National Register nomination. Only one minor building was lost, while the major buildings only lost parts of their roofs. However, if these roofs are not repaired soon the interior and the equipment inside will rapidly deteriorate.
Tractor Shop Storage: this building was demolished by the hurricane.
The following buildings suffered roof and wall damages:
Sugar Factory, including Mill, Boiler and Boiling Houses
Locomotive Roundhouse
Main Machine Shop
Railroad Car Main Repair Shop Railroad Car Body Shop
Tractor and Agricultural Machinery Repair Shop
Tractor and Agricultural Machinery Miscellaneous Storage
Lumber and Pipe Shops