Hacienda Santa Elena is a 500-acre historic
sugarcane plantation
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...
located in the west bank of
La Plata River in the
Media Luna
The Media Luna () or Media Luna Ampliada () refers to a group of four departments – Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, and Tarija – in Bolivia which are home to a greater proportion of opponents to the national government led by Evo Morales ...
area of the municipality of
Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. Santa Elena is recognized as a historic monument by the
Institute of Puerto Rican Culture
The Institute of Puerto Rican Culture ( es, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña), or ICP, for short, is an institution of the Government of Puerto Rico responsible for the establishment of the cultural policies required in order to study, preser ...
(ICP) since 1983, and it was added to the
United States National Register of Historic Places in 1992, and on the
Puerto Rico Register of Historic Sites and Zones
The Puerto Rico Register of Historic Sites and Zones (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Registro Nacional de Sitios y Zonas Históricas'') is a Government of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican government program adopted by the state Puerto Rico Planning Board, P ...
in 2000,
as it is the only existing 18th-century industrial complex not only in Puerto Rico but also the Caribbean,
in addition to being the oldest existing sugar mill of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
History
The area where Hacienda Santa Elena is located has been used for agriculture since the early days of the
Spanish colonization of Puerto Rico. The fertile flooding plains of the so-called Toa Valley (''Valle del Toa'') in particular were first developed for agriculture in the mid-1500s during the period of transition between
gold mining and the
fortification of San Juan in the military development of the island as a defensive and maritime stopover between
Spain and the
Spanish Main
During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to di ...
. The two main crops of the area at the time were sugarcane and
ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...
, which complemented the cattle raising industry for the purpose of meat and leather. By 1647, the sugar industry was the main agricultural activity of the
region of San Juan with the Toa Valley being one of the prime sugarcane production centers along with
Bayamón and
Loíza.
Hacienda Santa Elena was founded in the 18th-century, during a time when the sugar production industry was booming after period of industrialization that saw the development of sugar mills and refineries (''centrales azucareras'') in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. This was despite the passive and limited distribution of resources towards the development of agriculture by the
Spanish Empire as the priority at the time was the control of Puerto Rico as a military defensive stronghold. The establishment of the
Bourbon dynasty
The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanis ...
rule of Spain however brought a rapid diversification in the economic activities and industries in the Spanish colonies inspired by newly integrated ideas from the
Enlightenment movement. This resulted in land reforms, spearheaded in the island by figures such as
Alejandro O'Reilly, that were quickly established in the Spanish colonial cities of the Americas and allowed for the establishment of plantations such as Hacienda Santa Elena in 1778 which,
at the time, was located within the city limits of San Juan. At this time, the agricultural activities of the plantation included the cultivation of corn, tobacco, cotton, coffee, cocoa and plantains. Toa Baja quickly became one of the main crop producers in the island, becoming the second in commercial sugar production and fourth in the production of
molasses
Molasses () is a viscous substance resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, method of extraction and age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is primarily used to sweeten and flavour foods ...
. The industrial production of
rum was also established as a result and, in 1782, an ''hacendado'' stated that the best rum in the island was produced here.
Further development of Santa Elena came in the form of industrial advancements in 1790 when it came under the ownership of Juan Rijus Teduchi,
an engineer originating in the then French colony of
Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...
who built the refinery and mill system, considered the most modern in Puerto Rico at the time. The property of Santa Elena was sold to a man named Dr. Figueras during the 1820s who introduced
steam technology and oversaw a process of modernization that lasted between until the 1830s, making Santa Elena one of the first agricultural sites to be mechanized in the island. In 1890, Hacienda Santa Elena was then sold to Jaime Fonalledas Garriga, a recent immigrant from Catalonia, who became its last owner.
Architecture
Hacienda Santa Elena remains today in the form of the ruins of the main hacienda complex, and the sugarcane mill and the cattle-driven refineries. The buildings are notable in their design: the attention to ornamentation and designs that transcend the merely functional purpose of the structures is evident in the ruins of the hacienda and the mill. Architecturally, he development of Hacienda Santa Elena represents a drastic departure in construction projects away from the military and religious elements that were predominant at the time and into an emerging secular industrial landscape.
Hacienda Santa Elena ruins
The Santa Elena Hacienda has been in a state of increasing deterioration since the 20th-century, and it remains today in the forms of ruins. In addition to
blight, several of the buildings and structures have been affected by natural disasters such as hurricanes and the
2020 earthquake.
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Buildings and structures completed in 1790
Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Puerto Rico
Haciendas in Puerto Rico
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Puerto Rico
Industrial buildings completed in 1790
Sugar industry in Puerto Rico
Sugar plantations in insular areas of the United States
Sugar plantations in Puerto Rico
Toa Baja, Puerto Rico
Unused buildings in Puerto Rico
1770s establishments in Puerto Rico
1778 establishments in the Spanish Empire
1790 establishments in the Spanish Empire