Location: Toa Baja
Date Established: 1897
Date Ceased Operations: 1962
Annuall Production Graph
Average Production: 19,197 Tons
Best Production Year: 1956/36,146 Tons
Family Ownership: Vias, Soler, Echeveste, Fabián
Corporate Ownership: Corporación Azucarera del Toa

 This Central Constancia is not to be confused with the Central Constancia of Ponce owned by the firm Saurí & Subirá of which no remains are left.  ​According to the book Españoles Utiles a Puerto Rico by Pedro de Angelis published in 1903, one of the original promoters of Hacienda Constancia was Spanish immigrant from Guipúzcoa in the Basque Country Santiago Echeveste Arrazaín ( -1888), who arrived in Puerto Rico in 1852 to help in the businesses of his uncle Ignacio Arrazaín (1820-1862).  Ignacio Arrazaín was a Spanish immigrant from Guipúzcoa in the Basque Country who arrived in Puerto Rico in 1838 and established a cooperage where he built "bocoyes" or hogsheds for the sugar factories in the Dorado area.  As discussed below, Santiago Echeveste ownership in Hacienda Constancia through marriage. 

The document La Central Constancia y el Desarrollo Historico de la Industria Azucarera en Toa Baja provides a transcript of the very first inscriptions of the parcel of land known as Hacienda Constancia in the Property Registry of Toa Baja, thus documenting its original boundaries and owners.  In synthesis, Hacienda Constancia was previous to 1854 known as Hacienda Santa Rosa.  On May 12, 1854 Miguel Arrechea bought from Ramón Salgado three different parcels of land totaling six hundred six cuerdas more or less which included Hacienda Santa Rosa, the Ahoga Perros estate and a tract of land known as Honduras and renamed them Hacienda Constancia.  On June 8, 1857 Arrechea sold ½ of Hacienda Constancia to the firm Soler, Massó & Vías whose partners were Spanish immigrants from Barcelona Gerardo Soler Macaya (1797-1871), Manuel Massó Ballester (1799-1878) and Juan Vias Paloma (1814-1866).

Manuel Massó Ballester and Juan Vias Paloma were friends from the town of Sitges in Catalonia from where they emmigrated to Puerto Rico in 1840.  Soon thereafter, they established a very successful mercantile firm in San Juan.  In 1852 Vias Paloma married Ysidora Paula Ochoteco Monclova from which marriage four children were born.  Manuel Massó Ballester never married or had children.  This information and the picture below of four persons on horseback, is the courtesy of Juan Rohrbach Vías the 2nd great grandson of Juan Vias Paloma.

At the time of his death in on October 24, 1871 Gerardo Soler Macaya owned ⅓ of Hacienda Constancia.  His participation was inherited by his son Gerardo Rosendo Soler Calzada (1834-1907) and because his daughter Rosa Soler Calzada had died on May 6, 1868 her participation was inherited by her widower Santiago Echeveste Arrazain and their daughter Rosa  Josefa Felipa Echeveste Soler. 

At the time of his death on December 4, 1878 Manuel Massó Ballester was owner of the remaining ⅔ of Hacienda Constancia by virtue of purchase together with Ysidora Ochoteco Monclova and Gerardo Soler Macaya the remaining ½ part owned by Miguel Arrechea and his participation in the dissolution of the firm Soler, Massó & Vías.  In his Last Will and testament dated September 7, 1867 he named as sole heirs Ysidora Ochoteco Monclova de Vías the widow of his friend Juan Vias Paloma and her four children; his Godson Manuel ( -1907), Catalina, Juan and Julio Vías Ochoteco.  Ysidora renounced her participation thus leaving her four children as sole owners of the ⅔ inherited from Massó.

In summation, in 1880 Hacienda Constancia was owned by Manuel, Catalina, Juan and Julio Vías Ochoteco as to ⅔ and Gerardo Rosendo Soler Calzada, minor child Rosa Josefa Felipa Echeveste Soler and her father Santiago Echeveste Arrazain as to ⅓.​  Most of these lived abroad, therefor, since the 1880s the administration of Hacienda Constancia and its development into a central sugar mill was the responsibility of local resident Gerardo R. Soler Calzada who is often times attributed 100% ownership incorrectly.  This edict in the August 10, 1907 edition of La Democracia newspaper, verifies that the owners still at that time were Rosa Echeveste and the mentioned above heirs of Manuel Vias Ochoteco among others since the edict does not include at the time owners who lived in Puerto Rico.

José Ferreras Pagán in his 1902 book Biografia de las Riquezas de Puerto Rico states that Central Constancia was owned at the time by Gerardo Soler as stated above in error.  His descripion of Hacienda Constancia states in part; "This property was a muscovado sugar factory since 1867 and grew into a central in 1891 with all its machinery finally installed in 1897.  It consists of 900 acres of land of which 450 are planted with sugarcane...its administrator is Rafael Palacios and its factory and lands are represented by Francisco Arrieta..." 

On April 21, 1911 Rosa Echeveste Soler who at the time resided in Spain, sold her ownership interest in Centeal Constancia to Rafael Fabián Fabián (1860-1930), a Spanish immigrant from Infiesto, Asturias who also had ownership interests in Central Mercedita, Central Cortada, Central Pasto Viejo and Central Coloso.  Fabian turned around and transferred his ownership to the Corporación Azucarera del Toa in which he had ownership interest together with the heirs of the Vias and Soler families, Manuel Gonzalez Martinez and Sosthenes Behn.

The 1930-31 Gilmore's Porto Rico Sugar Manual included as Appendix B in the  document La Central Constancia y el Desarrollo Historico de la Industria Azucarera en Toa Baja lists the admisnistrative staff of Central Constancias as Manuel Margarida Jr., Administrator; Manuel A. del Valle, Factory and Field Superintendent; M. Vazquez, Engineer; and J. Villamil, Manager.  It lists its Officers and Directors as Rafael Fabian, President; Manuel Gonzalez Martinez, Vicepresident; José Rodriguez Ante, Secretary; José M. del Valle, Treasurer, Emilio S. Jiménez, Rafael Martinez Dominguez and Oscar Nevarez, Directors.

On June 1, 1938 El Mundo Newspaper of San Juan published an edict signed by Alfonso Vazques Cabañas, Corporate Secretary of Compañia Azucarera del Toa, notifying that six stock certificates for a total of 720 shares of common stock of Corporación Azucarera del Toa issued to Juan Francisco Vias Ochoteco and Amalia Torrijos Lacruz were destroyed in a fire at the Convento de las Escuelas Pias de San Fernando in Madrid .  This is evidence that in 1938 some of the heirs of Juan Vias Paloma who resided in Spain, still maintained ownership interest in the sugar mill. 

The HAER Inventory report prepared by Carlos Mojica and W. Rodriguez in July 1977 states in error that Count Secundino Lozada (sic) founded Hacienda Constancia in 1867 and that the property was later acquired by Gerardo Soler.  According to the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form of his residence known as El Cortijo in Barranquitas, Secundino Lozana Cepa (1900-1967) was born in Asturias and in 1927 married Josefina Fabián Finlay at the Basilica de Covadonga in Asturias.  He was manager of Central Vannina as well as Vice President of Central Constancia and was member of the Board of Directors of Corporación Azucarera del Toa after the death of his father-in-law Rafael Fabián Fabián in 1930. 

Central Constancia was severely damaged by Hurricane San Felipe of 1928, the structures photographed below are part of those rebuilt after the hurricane.  What seems to have been used as the sugar mill's office building and the warehouse building running along the right side, are currently being used by Trigo Hermanos, a local wine & spirits manufacturer. 

In 1944 the Corporación Azucarera del Toa was subject to a suit brought by the Government of Puerto Rico because of its land ownership in excess of 500 cuerdas.  As a result of the law suit, the excess land was acquired by the Land Authority of Puerto Rico.  Central Constancia ceased operations in 1962 just six years after its best production year.  After it shut down in 1963, it was dismantled and its machinery sold to Ingenio Risaralda in Colombia.