Location: Vega Alta
Date Established: 1895
Date Ceased Operations: 1945
Anual Production Graph
Average Annual Production: 13,203 Tons
Best Production Year: 1942/21,646 Tons
Family Ownership: Finlay, Georgetti, Gonzalez Martinez

The origin of Hacienda Carmen in Barrio Bajura of Vega Alta dates back to the 1840s when its first reported owner was Manatí landowner Benito Maldonado who owned Estancia Carmen, named in honor of "La Virgen del Carmen".  At one point in time it was acquired by Juan Gualberto Landrón Martinez (1791-1865) and his wife Maria del Carmen Córdova Correa (1815-1896). Juan Gualberto Landrón Martinez was born in Bordeaux, France and in 1817 married Marcelina Rodriguez Salgado in Toa Baja from which marriage four children were born.  In 1834 shortly after the death of Marcelina, Juan Gualberto married Maria del Carmen Córdova Correa (1815-1896) of which six children were born including Carmen Eustaquia Landrón Córdova (1841-1884). Juan Gualberto also had a son from a consensual relationship with Maria Josefa Santana Rivera (1832- ), sister of Leonardo Igaravidez first wife.

Leonardo Igaravides Maldonado (1830-1888) was the son of Francisco Igaravides of Isabela and Carmen Maldonado of Vega Alta.  He married Avelina Santana Rivera (1826-1865) and after her death married Carmen Eustaquia Landrón Córdova, the widow of Manuel Antonio Lopez Martinez ( -1865). In 1867, two years after Juan Gualberto's death, L. Igaravides & Cia. became owner of Hacienda Carmen as a result of a partnership between Igaravides and his mother-in-law.  A series of subsequent transactions between Igaravidez and his wife's family members allowed him to acquire Hacienda Candelaria, Hacienda Santa Maria and Hacienda Monterrey  and become the managing partner of Hacienda Carmen.  Igaravides' operation of the Hacienda was very successful and profitable, he accumulated a total of 1,468 cuerdas planted with sugarcane and updated operations with modern equipment.  

By 1873 Igaravidez had his sights on bigger and better things, specifically Central San Vicente.   He dissolved L. Igaravidez & Cia. and sold Hacienda Carmen to his brother-in-law Justo Skerret Marrero who was married to Natividad Landrón Córdova.  In 1884, Maria del Carmen Córdova, Skerret's mother in law and as stated before the widow of Juan Gualberto Landrón, foreclosed on Carmen for unpaid debt and a year later sold it to British immigrant born in Cádiz, Jorge I. Finlay Bastarrachea (1842-1902).  Under Finlay's ownership, by 1895 Carmen had grown into a central sugar mill.  Upon Finlay's death in 1902, Central Carmen was inherited by his widow Emilia Francisca Van Rhyn and their three daughters Emilia Buenaventura (1869- ), Micaela Ines (1871- ) and Josefa Emilia Finlay Van Rhyn (1879- ).  Emilia B. married St. Kitts born Thomas George Waymouth-Illidge and Josefa E. married well known sugarman and Spanish immigrant from Asturias Rafael Fabián Fabián (1861-1930).  The operation of the sugar mill was bestowed on Finlay Bros. & Waymouth Trading Co., organized May 23, 1901 by Jorge's brother Juan Finlay Bastarrachea (1845-1921), Rafael Ojeda, Albert Lee Basanta (1873-1942) husband of Carmen Finlay and Thomas George Waymouth.​

By 1913 Carmen was under receivership of the Court with Jaime Sifre Tarafa (1862-1941) acting as Court appointed receiver.  West India Sugar Finance Corp., a Connecticut corporation organized August 1913 by sugar brokers Lorenzo D. Armstrong, F. S. Armstrong and Thomas Andrews Howell, President of the Cuban American Sugar Company among others, was established to finance and invest in the sugar industry in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Louisiana.  James Howell Post, President of National City Bank and the National Sugar Refining Company, also had ownership interest in the corporation.  Among the first loans made by the West India Sugar Finance Corporation were a $100,000 loan to Corsica Centrale and a Court approved financing to Central Carmen which provided the capital needed to get it out of receivership.  

In 1916, the receivers were discharged and Central Carmen was returned back to its shareholders which included at the time Jorge I. Finlay's son-in-law Thomas George Waymouth as President, Eduardo Georgetti, Vice President, Jaime Sifre Tarafa, Administrator and George D. Graves in representation of B. H. Howell, Son & Co. who controlled West India Sugar Finance Corporation, financiers of the receivership and owner of the entire $700,000 company bond issue, as Treasurer. 

Moody's 1922 analysis of West India Sugar Finance Corporation states about Carmen Centrale, Inc.; "Property consists of 10,000 acres of land, 12 miles of railroad, 6 locomotives and 165 cane cars.  The plant, located at Vega Alta, PR consists of a factory which was practically rebuilt in 1913 comprising 3 mills and crusher with a grinding capacity of about 800 tons (2,240 pounds each) a day, together with all necessary equipment, buildings for employees, laborers, etc.  Stores all sugar in public warehouses.  The factory is not as modern as those of the Cuban companies, but does efficient work and compares favorably with other Porto Rican factories."​

 
It has been reported that Central Carmen was at one time acquired by the same owners of Central San Vicente.  Evidence of this can be found in two documents.  One is the Milwaukee, WI publication Green Sheet Journal edition of June 6, 1940 which states that Manuel Gonzalez at the time owned two sugar mills, was half owner of another and owner of the greater part of the sugar land that supports a fourth.  The second is an official document of the Municipal Government of Salinas naming  the road from PR-3 to the community kown as Playa as "Paseo Manuel Gonzalez Martinez" which states that at the time of his death ca. 1944, Martinez owned Central Carmen, Central San Vicente and Central Toa (referring to Compañia Azucarera del Toa owner of Central Constancia).

Central Carmen was an early casualty in the PR sugar industry as it closed in 1945.  As can be seen from the production graph, its general production trend was upward until the very year it closed.  After its closure, reportedly Central San Vicente processed what Carmen used to, although in looking at San Vicente's annual production, it was not until 1952 when it had a big increase in tonnage.

Although within the boundaries of a different municipality, Central Carmen was only some 2.75 miles south, or inland, from the much larger Central San Vicente, still on flat lands and on the banks of the Cibuco River.  In 1946 the mill was dismantled an its machinery sold to Central Matilde in Venezuela.  The only remains of this sugar mill is the brick smoke stack which was built between 1910 and 1912, it is finished in tiles and is the most elaborate of those we saw.

The aerial pictures shown below taken in 2021 by and made courtesy of Carlos Alemán, show the footprints of additional structures next to the chimney not previously seen.  The arch structure at the bottom right hand corner on the next to last picture, resembles the arches on the portico on the old photos in the first gallery.  The footprint at the bottom left on the last photo seems to be the base for the three story structure in the old photos in the first gallery.