Born in Memphis, TN where he survived the Civil War years, Robert Bradley Hawley (1849-1921) moved to Galveston, TX in 1870 where he went in business as a merchant and in 1896 became Galveston's first Republican Congressman.  After getting acquainted with the sugar business by having an ownership interest in the New Iberia Sugar Co. of Louisiana, in 1899 Hawley's participated in the US expansion of the Cuban sugar industry in a significant way. On July 26, 1899 Hawley incorporated the Cuban-American Sugar Co. in New Jersey and that same year made its first sugar mill acquisition, Central Tingüaro.  He quickly moved to acquire Hacienda Chaparra from Spanish immigrant from Catalonia Antonio Mahiquez.  Both Central Tingüaro and Hacienda Chaparra were located in the Matanzas Province and were devastated during the Cuban War of Independence.  Central Tingüaro was destroyed by a fire in 1942 and when the company decided not to rebuild, it was then acquired by the Cuban Government in September 1943 who rebuilt it and sold it to Julio Lobo in March 1944.

The Chaparra Sugar Co. was incorporated in New Jersey on October 18, 1899 with a capital of $1 million.  Its incorporators and principal shareholders were Robert Bradley Hawley, President; Frederick H. Howell (1848-1929), Vice President and James Howell Popst (1859-1938), Treasurer.  In 1901, the company  entrusted Cornell University School of Engineering graduate Gen. Mario Garcia Menocal (1866-1941) to design and build the Chaparra Sugar Mill on the grounds of the old Hacienda Chaparra at Puerto Padre.  When finished in time for its first grinding season in 1902, it was the largest sugar mill in the world with daily grinding capacity of 9,100 tons of sugarcane.  ​The Cuban American Sugar Co. also owned a sugar refinery in Cardenas in the province of Matanzas, the only remaining sugar refinery in Cuba from the pre-war for independence years.

The Colonial Sugars Co. was incorporated in 1902 to take over the Gramercy Sugar Co., organized in 1895 by a group of investors from New York to operate a sugar refinery in St. James Parish, Louisiana.  In 1908 the Cuban-American Sugar Co. acquired the Colonial Sugars Co. and ran the refinery until 1971 when it was acquired by LSR, LLC.  Backed by capital from Louisiana and the Illinois Central Railroad, in 1922 the Colonial Sugars Co., then a subsidiary of the Cuban-American Sugar Co., purchased Central Constancia from the Constancia Sugar Co. who in 1901 had foreclosed on its mortgage to Julio de Apezteguía y Tarafá, son of its founder Martín Felipe de Apezteguía y Apecechea.  Central Constancia operated until 1949 when it was sold to Francisco Blanco and dictator Fulgencio Batista under the name Rancho Veloz Sugar Co.  

On September 19, 1906 papers were filed to change the name of the Cuban-American Sugar Co. to the Tingüaro Sugar Co.  That same day, the Cuban-American Sugar Co. was reincorporated in New Jersey as a holding company with authorized capital of $12 million under the name Cuban American Sugar Mills Co.  As a holding company, it owned all the outstanding shares of the Chaparra Sugar Co., the Tingüaro Sugar Co., the Cuban Sugar Refining Co., the United Sugar Co. and the Mercedita Sugar Co. In 1908 it acquired the Colonial Sugars Co. which owned the Colonials Sugar Refinery in Gramercy, LA and in 1910 purchased the remains of Central San Manuel from Francisco Plá Martínez Picabia, son of its founder José Plá and incorporated it under the name San Manuel Sugar Co. The new holding company owned or controlled land totaling some two hundred eighty thousand acres and produced about 546,000 bags of raw sugar annually.  Prominent investors in the reorganized company were James Howell Post and Thomas A. Howell president and vice president of the National Sugar Refining Co., B. H. Howell Son & Co., Bunker & Mollenhauer Sugar Refining Co., Lorenzo D. Armstrong and John Farr and received financial support from Henry O. Havemeyer.

In 1909 Chaparra Sugar Co.  In 1910, under the direction of Garcia Menocal, construction of Central Delicias began using what was available from the dismantled Central San Manuel.  As a subsidiary of the Cuban American Sugar Co., the San Manuel Sugar Co. began operations in 1911 with a daily grinding capacity of 11,700 tons of sugarcane, surpassing that of Central Chaparra.  In 1952 Central Delicias produced 1,383,653 bags of sugar, a world record.  It operated as a subsidiary of the Cuban American Sugar Mills Co. for forty nine years until 1960 when it was nationalized by the Fidel Castro regime.

In the March 15, 1921 Trust Agreement for a US$10 million bond issue, the Cuban-American Sugar Mills Co. listed 100% ownership of several subsidiaries, all organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey.  Each subsidiary's main asset, held free and clear of all encumbrances.

• The Chaparra Sugar Company (Central Chaparra)

• Chaparra Railroad Company

• San Manuel Sugar Company (Central Delicias)

• The Tingüaro Sugar Company (Central Tingüaro)

• Mercedita Sugar Company (Central Mercedita)

• The Cuban Sugar Refining Company

• Colonial Sugars Company (Central Constancia and the Colonials Sugar Refinery in Louisiana)

In 1933, labor unrest, strikes and daily violence were the order of the day throughout Cuba.  During that year's dead season, the Cuban government of President Ramón Grau San Martin seized Central Chaparra and Central Delicias from the Cuban-American Sugar Mills Co. when the company ordered the sugar mills closed in the face of worker's unrest.  However, after Grau's resignation from office on January 15, 1934, on January 30 new president Carlos Mendieta signed a decree returning both sugar mills to the Cuban-American Sugar Mills Co.

In 1955, the Cuban-American Sugar Mills Co. was #497 on the Fortune 500 list of America's largest corporations.  At the time of the rise of the Fidel Castro regime in 1959, the Cuban American Sugar Mills Co. owned Central Chaparra, Central Delicias and Central Mercedita.  All three were abandoned before being nationalized in July/August 1960.  At the time its assets in Cuba were seized by the Fidel Castro regime, the Cuban American Sugar Mills Co. owned the Colonial Sugars refinery in Louisiana, a liquid sugar operation in Missouri and stock of American Crystal Sugar Co.  On February 1961 it announced plans to acquire a controlling interest in the Florida Sugar Corp. which owned agricultural land and a sugar mill in Belle Glade, Florida.

Central Chaparra's name was changed to Central Jesús Menéndez and was permanently closed down in 2002 after one hundred years in operation.  Central Mercedita's name was changed to Central Augusto César Sandino which last year of operation was also 2002.  Central Delicias' name was changed to Central Antonio Guitera and is still in operation.