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Hacienda Mercedita 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 A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
in
Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...
, founded in 1861, by
Juan Serrallés Colón Juan Eugenio Serrallés Colón (1836–1921) was the founder of Hacienda Mercedita in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and what was to become Destileria Serralles, producers of "Don Q", a brand of Puerto Rican rum. Family and early years Juan Serrallés Co ...
. Today Hacienda Mercedita no longer grows sugarcane and its lands are instead used for growing mangoes, grasses, landscape plants and palms, coconut palms, bananas, and seeds.''La Sucesión Juan Serrallés, Inc., festeja sus primeros 150 años de historia.'' La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 33. Issue 1630. Pages 20-21. 23 February 2015. The Hacienda was the administrative center of the large sugarcane
mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...
called ''Central Mercedita'' as well as that of its cane sugar
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 ...
plant which packaged the ''Snow White'' brand sugar at its nearby packaging plant. Hacienda Mercedita was also the site of origin of a
rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...
production in 1865 that became the successful
Destilería Serrallés Destilería Serrallés is a rum producer located in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and best known for its Don Q rum brand. The company is Puerto Rico's oldest family-owned company and has revenues of over 100 million dollars. In 2011, it was responsible f ...
rum distillery producing
Don Q Don Q is a Puerto Rican rum, distilled, manufactured, bottled, and distributed by Destilería Serrallés from its corporate facility in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Don Q, "Puerto Rico's best-known rum", is the top-selling rum in Puerto Rico, where ov ...
and other spirits. After operating continuously since 1949, ''Central Mercedita'' closed down in December 1994, and its sugar mill site is abandoned and in
ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
. The Serrallés rum distillery, however, is an expanding and successful company still operating from the same original location, in barrio
Vayas Vayas is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Playa, Bucana, Canas and Capitanejo, Vayas is also one of Ponce's five coastal barrios. Together with Capitanejo, Vayas is also one of two rural coastal bar ...
, southeast of the intersection of routes
PR-10 Puerto Rico Highway 10 (PR-10) is a major highway in Puerto Rico. The primary state road connects the city of Ponce in the south coast to Arecibo in the north; it is also the shortest route between the two cities. Construction on the modern PR- ...
and
PR-52 Puerto Rico Highway 52 (PR-52), a major toll road in Puerto Rico, is also known as ''Autopista Luis A. Ferré''. It was formerly called ''Expreso Las Américas''. It runs from PR-1 in southwest Río Piedras and heads south until it intersects wit ...
. ''Central Mercedita'', where the local sugar cane was processed, is now owned by Puerto Rico's ''Autoridad de Tierras'' (English: Land Authority). Though Hacienda Mercedita was located in a different barrio, Sabanetas, its location was next to the rum distillery, the two being separated only by La Esperanza street ( PR-5506).


History


The sugar business

At the beginning of the 19th century, Don Sebastian Serrallés, a Spaniard from Begur, Girona, Catalonia, Spain, settled in Ponce and founded Hacienda Teresa. Following in his father's footsteps,
Juan Serrallés Colón Juan Eugenio Serrallés Colón (1836–1921) was the founder of Hacienda Mercedita in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and what was to become Destileria Serralles, producers of "Don Q", a brand of Puerto Rican rum. Family and early years Juan Serrallés Co ...
founded a sugarcane hacienda (plantation) in 1861 in Ponce and named it Hacienda Mercedita, in honor of his wife Mercedes Perez (1845–1922). The Hacienda quickly developed into a major sugar factory called Central Mercedita. According to Encyclopedia Puerto Rico, in 1862, just one year after its start-up, the sugar cane production at the Central Mercedita was so excellent that its owner started buying out neighboring sugar mills, including La Laurel, La Fe, Destierro, Bronce, Mallorquinas, Barrancas, La Teresa, Union, Mattei, Margarita, Cintrona, and rented the Cayo Verde sugar mill. Hacienda Mercedita produced sugar from sugarcane and packaged it at its nearby Snow White Sugar Company on the spacious flatlands complex of Central Mercedita, founded in 1949. The land area increased from the original 300 acres to the area currently (February 2015) bounded in the east by the municipality of
Juana Diaz Juana is a Spanish female first name. It is the feminine form of Juan (English John), and thus corresponds to the English names Jane, Janet, Jean, Joan, and Joanna. Juanita is a common variant. The name Juana may refer to: People * Juana I ...
, in the north by barrio
Coto Laurel Coto Laurel (''Barrio Coto Laurel'') is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Anón, Marueño, Guaraguao, Quebrada Limon, Real, and San Patricio, and the coastal barrios of Canas and Capitanejo, Coto ...
, in the west by hacienda Mercedita proper at what is currently Destileria Serralles, and in the south by the
Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
.


The rum business

In 1865, Juan Serrallés Colon experimented with rum production at the Hacienda, producing his first casks of rum. He perfected his rum formula and the rum business grew rapidly. By 1890, Hacienda Mercedita produced over of rum-making sugarcane. For some time the Serrallés operation produced various local rum brands, most of which were short-lived. Inspired by the success of other rum producers in the island, the family decided to launch a refined brand with the intention of exporting it elsewhere. In 1932, the Ron
Don Q Don Q is a Puerto Rican rum, distilled, manufactured, bottled, and distributed by Destilería Serrallés from its corporate facility in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Don Q, "Puerto Rico's best-known rum", is the top-selling rum in Puerto Rico, where ov ...
brand was born and became popular with locals who considered rival
Bacardi Bacardi Limited (; ) is one of the largest privately held, family-owned spirits companies in the world. Originally known for its Bacardi brand of white rum, it now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels. Founded in Cuba in 1862 an ...
either harsher in taste or a foreign brand, as it was made in Cuba. In the 1930s, with money pouring in, Juan Serralles built a spacious new home for his family in his estate in Ponce, today called the Serralles Castle. By 1953, the rum business had become highly successful and the Serrallés family built a new refinery incorporating modern equipment. By February 21, 1953, as the Hacienda was no longer a mostly residential facility, but had taken on more of an administrative role, its sugar cane corporation, Central Mercedita, Inc., was the center of most activity, purchasing sugarcane from local farmers and milling and processing it into cane sugar. Central Mercedita Inc. and its sister company, Puerto Rican Sugar Refinery, Inc., together engaged in Puerto Rico cane sugar production during this period. In the fall of 1971, these enterprises were doing business as Central Mercedita Co. and as Puerto Rico American Refinery, Inc. In the 1950s, both the sugar cane and rum business stabilized and the Hacienda ran two parallel operations, one producing, packaging, selling, and distributing cane sugar under the ''Snow White'' brand and the other producing, packaging, selling, and distributing rum under the ''Don Q'' label. For the rum side of the house, Serralles incorporated a new company,
Destilería Serrallés Destilería Serrallés is a rum producer located in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and best known for its Don Q rum brand. The company is Puerto Rico's oldest family-owned company and has revenues of over 100 million dollars. In 2011, it was responsible f ...
Inc.


Life within the Hacienda

Originally designed as the residential quarters of its Serrallés owner and his family when it was built in 1861, the Hacienda took on a more industrial role in the following years, as the cane sugar business expanded rapidly, turning into the large Central Mercedita cane sugar factory. By the late 1870s, shortly after the abolition of slavery, the owners offered free garden plots both within and outside the Hacienda at the plantation in exchange for dependent resident labor force.La Hacienda Azucarera: Su Crecimiento y Crisis en Puerto Rico (Siglo XIX)” by Andres Ramos Mattei.1981. pp. 96-97. Life in the Hacienda The Hacienda established a general store where laborers bought goods on credit from the planter. "Planters paid wages in tokens that could only be used to buy goods at its grocery and general stores, thus hoping to create a cycle of indebtedness that would bind workers to their estates." The sugarcane plantation virtually became a
company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...
, and eventually had its own
rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...
line, workers' housing, transportation
fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet *Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles *Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach ...
,
commissary A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop. In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...
, and private airport; which was later converted into a public commercial airport known as Ponce's
Mercedita Airport Mercedita International Airport (AIM, ''Aeropuerto Internacional Mercedita'') is a public use international airport located three nautical miles (6  km) east of the central business district of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The airport cover ...
.


Demise

In 1973, the government of Puerto Rico created the Corporacion Azucarera de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Sugar Corporation, also known as Sugar Corporation of Puerto Rico) in an attempt to save the sugar industry, which for the previous two decades had been decaying.The Rise and Decline of Puerto Rico's Sugar Industry, by Nydia R. Suarez. Sugar and Sweetener: S&O/SSS-224 (December 1998) Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Page 25. The new Corporation oversaw the operations of the remaining 13 sugarcane mills, including Central Mercedita, and those of the Snow White Sugar Refinery, the only sugar refinery left in the Island. The Puerto Rico Land Authority had ownership of the ''Snow White'' sugar refinery itself. However, for a number of reasons, the new government corporation "immediately bled money." Ten years later, in 1983, the price of Mercedita's ''Snow White'' brand sugar was frozen by law in an attempt "to keep the voters happy." On 31 December 1994, Central Mercedita stopped the milling of sugarcane, but continued its sugar refining operations to accommodate other sugar cane mills in Puerto Rico that depended on it for their milling operations. However, 1994 is generally considered the closing date for the sugar mill. Shortly afterwards, sugar refining at Mercedita stopped altogether with the closing of the remaining sugarcane farms in the island. In 1998, the Government of Puerto Rico gave title to the homes and associated land to the remaining residents of the old Mercedita plantation.


Intent to resurrect

In the fall of 2001, Sugar Corporation of Puerto Rico which owned the Mercedita sugar refinery and the ''Snow White'' sugar brand was contemplating the building of a sugar plant large enough to supply all 50,000
ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...
s of sugar consumed each year in Puerto Rico.


City park

The municipality of Ponce is attempting to acquire the grounds of the old Central Mercedita to convert it into a city park.


Today

The community where the old Central Mercedita operated continues still stands. It too goes by the name "Central Mercedita". The main access road is PR-5506. In June 2020, the hacienda served as a backdrop for an educational photoshoot of the traditional Puerto Rican Bomba dance.


Timeline of important events

Following is a timeline listing the principal events, and their dates, in the life of Hacienda Mercedita.Neysa Rodríguez Deynes. ''El Museo Castillo Serrallés, The Serralles Castle Museum.'' Ponce, Puerto Rico: Patronato del Castillo Serrallés. 1998. pp. 23-45. * 1861 – Hacienda Mercedita founded (p. 23) * 1869 – Mechanization started (p. 28) * 1879 – Ox carts replaced by railroad system (p. 28) * 1896 – Juan Serralles purchases nearby haciendas and incorporates them into Hacienda Mercedita: Hacienda Laurel, H. La Fe, H. Destierro, H. Bronce, H. Ponceña, and H. Cintrona (p. 33) * 1914 – (11 April) Succession J. Serralles created (p. 34) * 1926 – Joint venture with American investors create the Porto Rican American Sugar Refining Inc. to produce white sugar (p. 38) * 1949 – Central Mercedita Inc. is founded to process sugar cane form other haciendas (p. 40) * 1963 – Central Mercedita buys outstanding shares of the Puerto Rican American Sugar Refining to become the sole owner (p. 40) * 1969 – Another Serralles family business, Destileria Serralles (founded 1935), buys Central Mercedita (p. 40) * 1979 – Central Mercedita is sold to the government of Puerto Rico, as the sugar cane industry is declining considerably (p. 45) * 1995 – The Government of Puerto Rico shuts down Central Mercedita (p. 45)


See also

* Destileria Serralles *
History of sugar Sugar was first produced from sugarcane plants in India sometime after the first century AD. The derivation of the word "sugar" is thought to be from Sanskrit (''śarkarā''), meaning "ground or candied sugar," originally "grit, gravel". Sanskrit ...
* Juan Serralles *
Mercedita Airport Mercedita International Airport (AIM, ''Aeropuerto Internacional Mercedita'') is a public use international airport located three nautical miles (6  km) east of the central business district of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The airport cover ...
* Museo Castillo Serrallés * Ron Don Q * Serralles Castle *
Ponce and Guayama Railroad References * * Aponte, Roger (1984). ''Apuntes sobre el último ferrocarril de Puerto Rico, Ponce & Guayama Railroad.'' Ponce: Editorial Kider Printing. (in Spanish) * Pumarada, Luis (1980). ''Trasfondo histórico del ferrocarril en Puerto Ric ...


References


Notes


External links


Associated Press: Costs, Competition Decay Puerto Rico's Sugar Industry

The Rise and Decline of Puerto Rico's Sugar Economy

Sugar in Puerto Rico

Central Mercedita, Ponce
* {{Coord, 18.01826, -66.56378, region:US-PR_type:landmark, display=title Agriculture in Puerto Rico Buildings and structures in Ponce, Puerto Rico Companies based in Ponce, Puerto Rico Cultural history of Puerto Rico Historic American Engineering Record in Puerto Rico Industrial railways Rail transport in Puerto Rico Sugar companies of the United States Sugar plantations in the Caribbean Sugar refineries Food and drink companies established in 1861 1861 establishments in Puerto Rico Barrio Sabanetas