Location: Guayama
Date Established: 1906
Date Ceased Operations: 1968
Annual Production Graph
Average Annual Production: 13,172 Tons
Best Production Year: 1930/24,466 Tons
Family Ownership: Alcaide, Vergés, McCormick
Corporate Ownership: Central Aguirre Sugar Company

 The predecessor to Central Machete was Hacienda Verdaguer, started by Spanish immigrant from Blanes, Gerona, Catalonia  Juan Verdaguer Casellas ( -1828).  Verdaguer arrived in Guayama prior to 1818 when on October 22 of that year sold a tract of land to Frenchman Juan Abraham Contancia and Juan Eduardo Darío.  In his last will and testament he left a two hundred acre sugar plantation and factory to his nephews Juan (1803-1839) and José (1806-1830) Verdaguer Yllas.  Upon the death of José just two years after his uncle, he left his inheritance to his father Esteban Verdaguer and his brother Juan who then became 75% owner of the estate.

In 1838 Juan, having to return to Spain, entered into a management contract with Félix Ignacio Salvador Massó Soteras (1797- ) aka Salvador Massó, also a Spanish immigrant from Blanes, Girona, Catalonia, whereby Massó would receive 10% of the net profits.  Juan died in Blanes on April 2, 1839 leaving ⅕ of his assets to his widow Ysabel Texidor Vazquez and the rest to his children born before his marriage Teresa Verdaguer de Rivera, Obdulia Verdaguer Texidor and Dolores and Aracelis Verdaguer de Rivera.  In the 1850s the sugar plantation was still administered by Salvador Massó.

It is unbeknown to me the family dealings that allowed Felix Massó Soler, the son of Salvador Massó Soteras and his wife Obdulia Verdaguer Texidor (1830 -), daughter of Juan and Joaquina Texidor, aunt of his later wife Ysabel Texidor Vazquez, to become owners of the sugar plantation and factory.  José Ferreras Pagán book Biografía de las Riquezas de Puerto Rico published in 1902, states the ownership of Hacienda Verdaguer as being the estate of Felix Massó.  Another evidence of ownership is an article in the September 25, 1887 edition of the Boletín Mercantil de Puerto Rico that apparently due to the several names it was incorrectly given, establishes the correct name of the hacienda as the Catalonian last name Verdaguer.  The article states that its owner was Felix Massó Soler a resident of Barcelona, Spain.  The 1872 Slave Register shows Felix Massó owner of 85 slaves.

It has been said that Central Machete started as Hacienda Machete owned by Michel ( -1821) and Pierre ( -1821) Ledée, two brothers who came to Puerto Rico from the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy.  However, in Ferreras Pagán book which is an inventory of sugar factories and central sugar mills in existence at the time, neither Central Machete nor Hacienda Machete are reported.  It has also been reported that Hacienda Verdaguer was acquired by the Ledée brothers from the Felix Massó estate on or after 1902, but based on the information that follows, the Ledée brothers ownership cannot be verified as correct. 

In his webpage Biografia de las Riquezas de Puerto Rico, Jorge David Capiello-Ortiz states that Central Machete resulted as the consolidation of Hacienda Carlota of Sucn. Viñas, Hacienda Santa Elena of Fernando Calimano, Hacienda Pica of Sucn. Cabassa & Pica, Hacienda Barrancas of Sucn. Antonio J. Alcaide Hernandez (1833-1897) and Hacienda Olimpo of José Mariano Capó y Alvarez.  Capiello-Ortiz also states that the promoters and initial owners of Central Machete were McCormick Hnos. and the Sucn. Felix Massó represented by Fernando Calimano and Bernardo Ferrer who was the principal promoter.  It is worth noting that Calimano and Ferrer represented the estate of Felix Massó since they were not listed as family or business acquaintances of Felix Massó Soler in the 1887 article in the Boletin Mercantil de Puerto Rico referenced above.

The information I have differs somewhat from that in Capiello-Ortiz webpage.  Per our research, the Sucn. Lugo Viñas lost Hacienda Carlota due to excessive debts in 1891 when it was acquired by Ignacio Diaz Joglar.  In his book, Ferreras Pagán indicates that Hacienda "Gregoria M. Pica" was established by Matias Pica ( -1842) ca. 1830 with an oxen driven mill.  He states that upon his death in 1842 it was managed by his estate represented by Benito Texidor until 1860 when administration was assumed by Leopoldo Cabassa and that in 1865 they acquired additional lands growing it to 425 acres of which 250 were planted with sugarcane and a steam mill was installed.  This information differs from that in the book Sugar, Slavery and Freedom in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico by Luis Figueroa who states "Don Jesús Maria Texidor y Vazquez (1836- ) owned still another plantation, Hacienda Gregoria, a mid-size estate that was nevertheless Guayama's fifth most productive in 1872".  

Leopoldo Cabassa Pica (1861-1917) was the the second of four children born to Luis Polonio Cabassa Tassara (1842-1912) and his wife Carmen Pica Martelo (1842-bef1872), daughter of Matias Pica and Gregoria Martelo (hence the hacienda's name Gregoria/Matias Pica).  Given his date of birth we believe the information in Ferreras Pagán book may be incorrect.  Although we have not established a relationship between Benito Texidor and Jesús Maria Texidor, the information by Figueroa seems more credible at this time.  Hacienda Gregoria/Matias Pica was located about 1,350 meters northwest of Central Machete just south of the Patillas Irrigation Canal. 

According to Andrés Ramos Mattei in his essay The Plantations of the Southern Coast of Puerto Rico: 1880-1910, after their investment in Central Providencia in 1902, that same year A. Hartman & Co. acquired Hacienda Esperanza from Amorós Hnos. and Hacienda Verdaguer.  That year they also acquired Hacienda Reunión in Barrio Jobos also from Amorós Hnos. which had been a colonia of Central Aguirre since 1901 and was located about 1.75 miles west of Central Machete, and Hacienda Olimpo of José Mariano Capó y Alvarez (1842- ) in Barrio Caimital about 2 miles north of where Central Machete would be located.  A list of Water Rights included in the Annual Report of the Governor of PR states two water rights granted in 1875 and 1890 to Gual Hnos., owners of Hacienda Reunión.  

Based on the above, we can conclude that Central Machete resulted from the acquisition and consolidation of Hacienda Verdaguer, Hacienda Olimpo, Hacienda Reunión, Hacienda Gregoria/Matias Pica, Hacienda Barrancas, Hacienda Santa Elena, Hacienda Esperanza and Hacienda Carlota.  In December 1908 new equipment from Fulton Iron Works in St Louis, MO was installed and in 1912 Rafael Fabian reportedly joined in the ownership group.

In January 1920 Luce & Co. S en C, a subsidiary of Central Aguirre Sugar Co., acquired a 72.5% controlling interest in Central Machete Co. and 6,000 acres of land from A. Hartman & Co. for a reported $2,500,000.  The remaining 27.5% ownership was retained by the son of Antonio J. Alcaide Hernandez, Antonio S. Alcaide Baiz (1863- ) who was married to Estella Riefkohl Mourier daughter of Otto Riefkohl Baetcke part owner of Central Columbia and the estate of Luis Francisco Vergés Ramu (1869-1910) comprised of his stepmother Carolina Riefkohl Mourier and the three surviving children from her marriage to Eugene Marcelin Vergés Lepelleux since Luis Francisco never married or had children.  Central Machete did not grow cane of its own, all of it sugarcane was provided by Luce & Co.

Members of A. Hartman & Co. were Puerto Rican born brothers Juan Carlos (1860-1916) and Guillermo (1861-1907) McCormick Hartman.  The McCormick brothers, which also included Arthur (1864-1924), were sons of Scottish immigrant and Vice Consul of the US and the UK in 1876 and 1879 respectively Arthur William McCormick Fitzpatrick ( -1881) and his wife of German descent Adela Hartman Langschwart (1840-1892). Juan Carlos McCormick Hartman was married to Axelina Francisca Murdoch (1866- ), niece of Edward Lind the owner of Hacienda Enriqueta. Another brother, Enrique McCormick Hartman was married to Maria de los Dolores Alcaide Baiz, sister of Antonio S. Alcaide Baiz who as stated before, retained part ownership and was also co-owner of Central Providencia. 

We only have production figures from 1913 through 1931.  It is reasonable to assume that Machete's production from 1931 on was included in Aguirre's production numbers which almost doubled from 1931 to 1932.  As part of Central Aguirrre, its production was sent there by train, the tracks in the picture are about a 100 yards in front of the smoke stack which has a very particular heptagonal design.  

Central Machete's last grinding season was 1967-68, in 1970 the lands owned by Luce & Co. were acquired by the Puerto Rico Land Authority, an agency of the Government of Puerto Rico who continued to grow sugarcane thereafter processed at Central Aguirre until ca. 1986.

The house pictured below is a typical sugar mill house of those days, if not for the fence which is a later addition, it would probably be the best kept original house we saw.