In the eary part of the 19th Century, Hacienda La Unión in Barrio Coamo Abajo later the town of Santa Isabel, was owned by Spaniards from Mallorca Juan Famanía Cabrer (1789-1837) and his wife Juana Ana Teresa Bennazar Sampol (1792- ).  Juan and Teresa had two children, Maria Gertrudis and Francisco Famania Bennazar both born in Mallorca. 

Francisco Famania Bennazar emigrated to Puerto Rico with his wife, Italian immigrant from Genova Rosa Castagnini Granado.  Francisco was one of the founders of the town of Santa Isabel in 1846, was involved in retail commerce and was not interested in continuing the agricultural business his father had begun and developed.  Francisco wanted to sell the hacienda which presented a good opportunity for José Alomar Burgos to buy the property since his wife Maria Gertrudis Famania Bennazar, already owned a ½ interest in it.

In 1833, José Alomar Burgos (1806-1879) had married Maria Gertrudis Famanía Bennazar in Palma de Mallorca.  Alomar still lived in Mallorca, so he asked his brother Gaspar (1813-1896), who was in the Spanish Navy at the time and travelled frequently  to the Colonies, to check out the property in Santa Isabel in one of his voyages.  Gaspar visited the plantation and fell in love with it.  Sometime between 1842 and 1844 José Alomar Burgos acquired his brother-in-law Fransico's ½ interest in the property, becoming with his wife Maria Gertrudis the sole owners of the property which they renamed Hacienda Santa Isabel.  

It appears that in the early 1840s Gaspar who was single, José and his wife Maria Gertrudis and two children Jose (1834- ) and Margarita (1835) came to live in Puerto Rico.  Three more children would be born in Santa Isabel to José and Maria Gertrudis; Francisco (1846- ), Gaspar (1848- )  and Pedro (1850- ).  The plans drawn in 1942 by surveyor Francisco Descartes to establish the city limits of the new town of Santa Isabel lists the names of major landowners within the territory.  The list included Francisco Famanía but did not include neither José nor Gaspar Alomar Burgos.  It is therefor evident that Alomar acquired Hacienda Unión from Famanía some time after 1842.

Andrés Ramos Mattei in his book The Plantations of the Southern Coast of Puerto Rico: 1880-1910 states that "In 1847 Jose Alomar Burgos bought part of the Santa Isabel plantation from his father-in-law's heir Francisco Femenía."  The 1847 date does not seem correct since a concession of water right to extract water from the Coamo River was granted to José R. Alomar, Pedro J. Capó and N. Márquez on March 21, 1844 for irrigation purposes at their haciendas Santa Isabel, Destino and Florida.

José and Maria Gertrudis and the five children appear in the 1860 Census of Santa Isabel.  Some time after 1860 José and Maria Gertrudis returned to live in Mallorca where they lived the rest of their lives.  It is unknown to us if any of the children stayed in Puerto Rico.  Gaspar, who never married, did remain in Puerto Rico and ran the Hacienda.  It is also unknown to us if and when Gaspar ever became part or full owner of the hacienda.  In 1842 Gaspar also was one of the founders of the town of Santa Isabel and its Mayor from 1849 to 1853 when he was "exhonerated" of his duties by the Governor General due to his inability to hold the position and run his business interests at the same time.

Between 1846 and 1886 an irrigation system was built by the owners of three haciendas in the area; Florida, Santa Isabel, and Destino.  Funds for the construction came from their own money and help from the Spanish Crown.  It consisted of a set of structures built in brick, stone and lime mortar masonry with concrete plastering to transport water from the Coamo River to the fields of their sugar cane plantations.  Known as the Irrigation System of the Three Haciendas, it was registered in the National Register of Historic Places on 12/13/2016.

The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer publication in its edition of December 4, 1909 states that "a cyclone has been doing business around the island and as a result the 1910 cane crop has suffered severly.  From Santa Isabel comes tidings of a waterspout that swept over the town doing considerable damage and causing heavy losses to some plantations."  Hacienda Santa Isabel was not excepted from the damage caused by the cyclone.

In its edition of December 11, 1909 the same publication states that "Central Santa Isabel belonging to the Alomar Bros. of Spain has been rented to Mr. R. H. Delgado of Porto Rico at a contract rate of $20,000 a year for the superficial part of the estate, the contract including a set price of $42,000 extra for the plantations, live and rolling stock and cultivating implements.  The contract carries as guarantee the names of three of the best known sugar men in the island." 

Hacienda Santa Isabel remained in the Alomar family until the 1920 when it was sold to Luce & Co. a subsidiary of Central Aguirre.  In 1974 the property passed on to the Land Authority of Puerto Rico who later sold it to an Israeli firm that currently has a vast fruit & vegetable plantation on its lands.