Hacienda Maria was established in the Barrio San Lorenzo of Morovis ca. 1865 by Spanish immigrant from the municipality of Rubí in the comarca of Vallés Occidental and the Province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Juan Suro Juliá ( -1870) and his wife Encarnación Prado ( -1911). On November 29, 1879 Encarnación, then  a widow, mortgaged two properties of four hundred sixty nine and six hundred cuerdas in favor of Spanish immigrant from Palma de Mallorca Joaquina Juliá Brell (1814-1893).  In 1887 or early 1888 Joaquina instituted foreclosure proceedings agains Encarnación for recovery of the mortgage in the amount of 25,473 pesos resulting in the properties being adjudicated to Joaquina.

In 1887, the municpal government of Morovis foreclosed on fifty acres of land in Barrio San Lorenzo property of the estate of José Ramón Selvá Marrero who had died on November 20, 1886.  In April 1887 Spanish immigrant  Alonso del Rio Diaz (1834-906) acquired at public auction these fifty acres which were adjacent to land he already owned.  Alonso was born in Beloncio, Asturias from the marriage of Juan del Rio Melendreras and Dominica Diaz Blanco.  In 1888 Alonso acquired from Joaquina Juliá the two properties with a combined one thousand sixty nine curds she had foreclosed on Encarnación Prado.  In the court case known as Succession of Suro v. Succession of Prado decided by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico on July 29, 1914, facts regarding the acquisition by Joaquina Juliá and subsequently by Alonso del Rio are considered and clearly detailed.  The land he already owned, the 1069 acres acquired from Joaquina plus the fifty acres acquired from the municipal government of Morovis and other minor acquisitions comprised Hacienda María. 

Alonso was the brother of Miguel del Rio Diaz owner of Hacienda Del Rio located nearby in the same Barrio San Lorenzo of Morovis.  Miguel and Alonso had a sister Benita del Rio Diaz who married also Spaniard from Infiesto, Baltasar Menéndez Corrada y Pelaez.  Baltasar and Benita had a son named Cándido Menéndez Corrada del Rio who married his first cousin Margarita del Rio Buscall the daughter of Alonso and his first wife Josefa Buscall Gonzalez ( -1875).  Cándido and Margarita had a son named Romulo Corrada del Rio who was the father of well known politcian Baltazar Corrada del Rio (1935-1918) and Father Álvaro Corrada del Río, S.J. (1942- ) who was Bishop of Mayagüez from 2011 until his retirement in 2020.

The 1920 report of the Treasurer of Puerto Rico to the President of the United States indicates that Hacienda Maria was then owned by Hortensia de León Espinet (1859-1961) who was the second wife of Alonso del Rio Diaz from which marriage seven children were born all in Morovis; Jose Alonso, Belén, Cármen, Máxima, Josefa, María and Juan.  As stated above, his first marriage was to Josefa Buscall Gonzalez from which marriage also seven children were born.  On our first visit to Hacienda del Rio in 2015, we were told it belonged to José (Pepe) del Rio.  It is reasonable to believe Pepe is a descendant of José del Rio de León (1879-1967) and his wife Clotilde Guerrero.  José del Rio de León was the son of Alonso and Hortensia.  It is worthwhile mentioning that José del Rio de León was Mayor of Morovis from 1913 to 1920 following in the footsteps of his father Alonso who was Mayor in 1887.

In the pictures below can be seen remains of the machinery manufactured by the NY firm of Finney & Hoffman which includes the steam engine used to power the mill to squeeze the juice from the sugarcane, the boiler and boiler house, the entrance and exterior wall of the Jamaican Train underground system and the bonded warehouse building used to store rum.  This hacienda had a small distillery where Ron del Rio was manufactured.  The chapel was built by the owners on lands of the hacienda.