Central Cortada, also known as the Cortada Sugarcane Refinery, was a

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

plantation and

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

located in Descalabrado, Santa Isabel,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. The area where the refinery is located has been used for the growth and processing of sugarcane since the 18th century.

History

Central Cortada in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico

The area where Central Cortada is located was originally called ''Estancia Descalabrado,'' owned by

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

settlers named Juan de Quintana (from 1737 to 1789) and later Juan Cortada Manzo (from 1800 to 1865), who build the ''

trapiche A trapiche is a mill made of wooden rollers used to extract juice from fruit, originally olives, and since the Middle Ages, sugar cane as well. By extension the word is also sometimes applied to the location of the mill, whether the workshop or t ...

''. The Cortada family kept operating the farm as part of their crop financing business, the Ponce-based ''Cortada & Cia''. This company kept growing and acquiring new ''haciendas'' in the area, such as Hacienda Palmarito in 1868. The cholera epidemic of 1855-1856, which killed many ''estancia'' slaves, and the

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

in 1873 drastically transformed Puerto Rico's economy and impacted the sugarcane industry at the time. This period lasted through the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

until the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The ''Santa Isabel Sugar Company'' was founded in 1918 to build the infrastructure necessary to modernize and develop the sugarcane industry in the former ''estancia''. This company was founded in 1918 and was owned by the Cortada family and shareholders J. C. Mc Cormick Hartman, Hugh Guillén, Isidro Abarca, Antonio Álvarez, Francisco Verges, George T. Parker, Leopoldo Cabassa, Antonio Alcaide, and Rafael Fabián. The director was Juan Cortada Tirado. Most of the sugarcane workers at this time were poor peasants who would come from the mountainous areas in search of work and alternative employment. These workers would often be called ''colonos'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

for "colonists") as the former slave-operated ''estancias'' and the communities that grew around them were now referred to as ''colonias'' or "colonies". In the 1930s, the refinery was sold to the ''Central Aguirre Sugar Company'', which operated the Central Aguirre refinery in

Guayama Guayama (, ), officially the Autonomous Municipality of Guayama ( es, Municipio Autónomo de Guayama) is a city and municipality on the Caribbean coast of Puerto Rico. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 36,614. It is the c ...

. The refinery ceased operations in 1940 and due to grinding restrictions it remained closed throughout the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It opened again in 1944, and continued to operate until the 1970s. In 1970 it produced 16,968 tons of sugar, and it remained operational until 1974.

Gallery

File:Central Cortada.jpg, View of Central Cortada from

PR-1 Puerto Rico Highway 1 (PR-1) is a highway in Puerto Rico that connects the city of Ponce to San Juan. Leaving Ponce, the road heads east and follows a somewhat parallel route along the southern coast of the island heading towards Salinas. At S ...

. File:Central Cortada2.jpg, Old wooden house in Cortada. File:Central Cortada1.jpg, View of the ruins with the modern

wind turbines A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

in the background. File:Central Cortada3.jpg, Old plow machine in Central Cortada.

References

{{Reflist Industrial buildings and structures in Puerto Rico Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico Sugar refineries Sugar industry in Puerto Rico Sugar plantations in the Caribbean 1873 establishments in Puerto Rico 1974 disestablishments in North America

History

Gallery

See also

References