Central Canovanas
Location: Loiza
Date Established: 1880
Date Ceased Operations: 1965
Annual Production Graph
Average Annual Production: 28,075 Tons
Best Production Year: 1942/45,875 Tons
Family Ownership: Latimer
Corporate Ownership: Latimer & Co., Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd., Loiza Sugar Co., Fajardo Sugar Co.
On January 10, 1838 Juan O’Kelly the overseer at Hacienda San Isidro in Loiza, requested permission from the government to bring skilled labor from Saint Thomas to do construction work at the hacienda. At the end of the four month period granted, Pedro Magens as agent for the hacienda’s absentee owner and then Governor of the Danish Virgin Islands Hans Hendrik Berg, requested to retain the laborers as part of their slave endowment[1]. Hacienda San Isidro was some time later acquired by George B. Latimer (1803-1874) from Berg. Latimer was a Philadelphia native who settled in PR in 1830. During the 1830s he served briefly as the American Consul in Mayagüez, then settled in San Juan where he was a merchant, banker and Consul of Austria and The Netherlands in Puerto Rico.
Central Canovanas was the consolidation of Hacienda San Isidro with the adjoining Hacienda Punta. Construction of the sugar mill began in 1879 by Latimer's nephew Charles Alexander Hoard (1814-1883), William Henry Latimer-Collins (1828-1897) and José Ramón Fernandez (1808-1893), also owner of Hacienda La Esperanza and father-in-law William Henry Latimer-Collins who was married to Fernandez' daughter Bárbara Fernandez Dorado (1832-1912). Financing for the acquisition of land and construction of the sugar mill was provided by the the Colonial Co. Ltd.[2] an English corporation with headquarters in London doing business there and in the West Indies and South America as sugar merchants and planters. Additional financing was provided by a $200,000 loan from the NY chemist firm Lanman & Kemp arranged by Colombian immigrant Wenceslao Borda Rueda (1842-1914). In consideration of his efforts, Borda Rueda was brought in as a fourth partner by Latimer, Hoard and Fernandez. César J. Ayala in his book American Sugar Kingdom states that according to the Colonial Governor, at the time it was established Central Canovanas was "the first to be established on the basis of the complete separation between the growing of the cane and the elaboration of the sugar, which principle is unanimously recognized as the only one capable of restoring to this Antillean island its lost preponderance, considered as a center of sugar production, principal source of its wealth."
On February 3, 1883 and effective as of September 30, 1882, the four partners entered into an agreement with The Colonial Company Ltd. for a reorganization which resulted in the creation of the Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd., incorporated in London. The four partners deeded all equities in sugar lands and factory to the Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. in exchange for shares of the new corporation which they in turn pledged to The Colonial Company Ltd. At the same time, Lanman & Kemp deeded to the Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. all rights by virtue of their mortgage and in turn received a mortgage on the whole property owned by the new company. In 1885 The New Colonial Co. Ltd. as successor to the Colonial Company Ltd. bought Lanman & Kemp mortgage at a discounted value and bought Wencesalo Borda Rueda's shares.
The February 8, 1905 edition of La Democracia published a letter from Julián Blanco, clarifying the history of the Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. as it related to a lawsuit filed in Federal Court. The suit was filed in 1901 by The New Colonial Co. Ltd. for collection of debt evidenced by the Lanman & Kemp mortgage it had acquired in 1895 for £24,000 in its name rather than in that of the Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. and other monies advanced for operating capital since 1883. Following are the principal issues Blanco clarifies in his letter:
The sole heirs and legal administrators of George Latimer's assest upon his death in 1874 were José Ramón Fernandez, William H. Latimer and Charles A. Hoard.
In 1879, these three and Wenceslao Borda Rueda established the firm Sucn. Jorge Latimer & Cia. to establish and operate a sugar factory in Canovanas where each one had a 25% interest.
The initial capital of Sucn. Jorge Latimer & Cia. consisted of haciendas Punta and San Isidro contributed by Fernandez, Latimer and Hoard and a working capital loan arranged by Borda Rueda from Lanman & Kemp which in 1883 amounted to £68,900 guaranteed by a $200,000 mortgage on the land and structures of both haciendas.
The 1883 reorganization of Sucn. Jorge Latimer & Cia. into the Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. was the initiative of The Colonial Co. Ltd. in order to collect debts it was owed by Latimer & Co. which by 1879 had been dissolved in a state of bankruptcy.
For this reorganization, The Colonial Co. assumed the administration of the sugar factory for a term not to exceed 20 years and pledged to satisfy the Lanman & Kemp mortgage and all other debts stated in the 1883 agrement out of its profits. At the end of the 20 year term the sugar factory would revert to its owners (Fernandez, Latimer and Hoard) or their successors.
The Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. issued 10,000 shares of which 8 were retained by members of The Colonial Co. to satisfy British Government legal requirements. The remaining 9,992 shares were distributed 2,498 to each of the 4 members, retaining the Colonial Co. Ltd. as security the 7,494 shares issued to Fernandez, Latimer and Hoard since they had personally guaranteed the debts of Latimer & Co.
While the suit was still pending and just before the twenty year term was up, the New Colonial Co. Ltd, and the Canovanas Sugar Factory, Ltd. agreed to extend the term of the operating agreemnet for five years and thereafter on a year to year basis as the parties may agree. The "The New Colonial Ltd. v. Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd., et al." case was decided in 1906, in general stating that all throughout its existence and that of its predecesor, the New Colonial Co. acted as trustee for the benefit of Latimer, Hoard and Fernandez and their heirs.
The Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. operated at a loss during most of its existence although it was the largest central sugar mill on the island until the establishment of the Guanica Centrale and later ranked 5th or 6th in importance. From the time the Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. was born in September 1882 until it was acquired by the Loiza Sugar Co. in 1909, management of the Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. was completely in the hands of the Colonial Co. Ltd. and since 1897 by its successor, the New Colonial Co. Ltd.
The Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. absorbed Central Buena Vista in 1908 and a few months later the Loiza Sugar Co. acquired the Canovanas Sugar Factory Ltd. The Loiza Sugar Co. was a Puerto Rico corporation established on July 24, 1909 by a group of large landowners of the region that included Luis Rubert as president, Eduardo J. Gonzalez as Vice President, Spanish immigrant Abelardo de la Haba as Secretary and Pedro Arzuaga as treasurer of its Board of Directors. In October 1925, the Fajardo Sugar Co. acquired all the assets of the Loiza Sugar Co. and operated Central Canovanas as a subsidiary.
In May 1958 Eastern Sugar Associates who at the time owned three operating sugar mills (Cayey, Santa Juana and Juncos) and the Fajardo Sugar Co. merged forming Fajardo Eastern Sugar Associates. In February 1961 Manuel A. del Valle, former President of Eastern Sugar Associates, announced that later that same year Fajardo Eastern Sugar Associates would be acquired for $15.5 million by C. Brewer Puerto Rico, Inc., a subsidiary of C. Brewer & Co. of Hawaii who would continue operating the five sugar mills owned by Fajardo Eastern Associates (Fajardo, Canovanas, Juncos, Santa Juana and Cayey). Of the original five sugar mills owned by Eastern Sugar Associates, Central Defensa had been closed and dismantled in 1939 and Central Pasto Viejo was in the process of being dismantled at the time.
In August 1966 C. Brewer & Co. announced it was shutting down C. Brewer Puerto Rico, Inc. and thus all its operations in Puerto Rico after the 1966-67 grinding season. On March 9, 1967 it was announced that the Government of Puerto Rico was acquiring all the assets of C. Brewer Puerto Rico, Inc. for $7.5 million. The plan was for the government to continue to operate Central Juncos and Central Fajardo and dismantle and sell Central Canovanas and Central Santa Juana.
Although named Canovanas which is a nearby town, this sugar mill is located within the municipal boundaries of the town of Loiza on the banks of the Rio Grande de Loiza. Its remains consist basically of the smoke stack and a very large structure that appears to have been the mill. The production graph for Central Canovanas available in the title above is interesting and slightly different from other sugar mills. In its last year of operation, production was 23,985 tons which was just slightly below its lifetime annual production average of 28,075 tons. Its closure has been attributed to the lack of sugarcane, probably compounded by the fact that it was owned by the Fajardo Sugar Co., which production had started to dwindle a few years earlier.
In 1968 part of Central Canovanas machinery together with part of Central Santa Juana was sold to a group of investors from Guatemala who installed them at a new central sugar mill 64.5 km south of Guatemala City in the department of Escuintla called Ingenio Santa Ana. The drone pictures in the second gallery below were taken in February 2023 by Carlos Alemán who graciously allowed us to publish them here.
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[1] Chinea; La Immigración de las Indias Occidentales en Puerto Rico
[2] The Colonial Company Ltd. was organized in the 1860s as the successor of Cavan Bros. the Barbados and London merchant banking firm engaged in the slave trade comprised of Michael Cavan (1779-1832), James Cavan. John Torrance and Michael McChlery
