United Porto Rican Sugar Co. was a Maryland corporation established in 1926 by Moses A. Walker and other US investors to acquire five independent operating sugar mills in Puerto Rico.  All five sugar mills were located in a general area around the east central part of the island between Cayey and Humacao.  The five sugar mills were acquired from the Juncos Central Co. (Central Juncos), the Cayey Sugar Co., (Central Cayey), the Central Santa Juana Inc., (Central Santa Juana), the Central Pasto Viejo, Inc. (Central Pasto Viejo) and the Caguas Sugar Co. (Central Defensa).  United Porto Rican Sugar Co. also acquired Central Playa Grande in Vieques for its sugarcane lands but did not operate it.  The annual production of these sugar mills while owned by the United Porto Rican Sugar Co. is shown in the following chart.

Shortly after the beginning of the 1932-33 season, in February 1933, the United Porto Rican Sugar Co. was put by a Federal District Judge in the hands of temporary receiver Harry Adelbert Nadler (1889-1944) by petition of the National City Bank of NY* who had outstanding loans totaling $4,400,000.  As the result of the reorganization, James Cabell Bruce (1892-1980) then president of the Baltimore Trust Co. was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors and Mr. Nadler, a Louisiana native, was elected President of the sugar company.  For seventeen years following, Mr. Nadler was Vice President of Eastern Sugar Associates and resided until the time of his death at the area known as Mano Manca in Caguas pictured below.

The plan for reorganization called for the East Puerto Rican Sugar Co., a Maryland corporation established with the approval of the court, to issue preferred and common stock in the new company to holders of shares in the United Porto Rican Sugar Co. while creditors would receive cash and notes.  Sale of its properties, consisting of five sugar mills, thirty one thousand three hundred twelve acres of land, five thousand heads of cattle and about one hundred fifty five miles of railroad, was ordered by the US District Court for January 25, 1934. 

The July 27, 1935 edition of The New York Times reports; " The East Puerto Rican Sugar Co. has notified the Baltimore Stock Exchange that its name has been changed to Eastern Sugar Associates.  The company was formed as an agent in a reorganization, now completed, and was used as a holding company for shares of beneficial interest in Easter Sugar Associates.  The voting trustees dissolved the holding company and substituted for its shares those of the operating company, the notice said.  The voting trustees are Howard E. Boyce, A. H. S. Post, Harry N. Baetjer,  Clarence K. Bowie, Harry E. Henneman, E. T. Fidler and Burt O. Clark." Boyce was president of Drovers & Mechanics National Bank in Baltimore, MD, Baetjer was an attorney in Baltimore, MD and Henneman was an officer of the National City Bank of New York.

In its edition of February 13,1934 The New York Times reported that Senator Luis Muñoz Marín had presented a resolution providing for the acquisition of the assets of the United Porto Rican Sugar Co. by the people of Puerto Rico, which sale on January 25th was still unapproved.  In the edition of March 7, 1935 another article in the same newspaper stated that the Attorney General of Puerto Rico announced it was assembling data as the basis for a test of the US law limiting corporate land holdings to 500 acres.  It reported, "The test case is directed at against Eastern Sugar Associates which last year acquired extensive properties of the former United Porto Rican Sugar Co. through a series of holdings each under 500 acres."  This attitude and actions by the government towards the sugar industry was the beginning of its demise.

Except for Central Defensa which ceased to operate in 1936 and was dismantled and sold in 1939, Eastern Sugar Associates operated all the other sugar mills it acquired in 1934 until 1958.  The annual production of the sugar mills owned by Eastern Sugar Associates is shown in the following chart.

In 1958 Eastern Sugar Associates merged with the Fajardo Sugar Co. creating Fajardo Eastern Sugar Associates.  The merger transaction called for all the assets and liabilities of the Fajardo Sugar Co. of PR to be exchanged for shares of a new corporation called Fajardo Eastern Sugar Associates.  The merger came as a suprise as the only remaining assets of the Fajardo Sugar Co. of PR were two sugar mills as its lands had been expropriated by the government as a result of the implementation of the 500 Acre law.  This new venture lasted only three years.

In February 1961, Manuel A. del Valle** the former president of Eastern Sugar Associates, announced that later that same year all the assets of the Fajardo Eastern Sugar Associates were to be acquired for $15.5 million by C. Brewer Puerto Rico, Inc., a subsidiary of C. Brewer & Co., a corporation that owned sugar mills in Hawaii.  C. Brewer Puerto Rico, Inc. continued operating the five sugar mills at the time owned by Fajardo Eastern Sugar Associates; Central Fajardo, Central Canovanas, Central Juncos, Central Santa Juana and Central Cayey until 1967 (Central Defensa was closed and dismantled in 1939 and Central Pasto Viejo was at the time in the process of being dismantled). 

In August 1966 C. Brewer & Co. announced it was ceasing operations in Puerto Rico at the end of the grinding season.  In March 1967 it was announced by C. Brewer Puerto Rico, Inc. all of its assets would be acquired by the government through the Sugar Corporation of PR.  In her book Santa Juana y Mano Manca, Ivonne Acosta states that when C. Brewer Puerto Rico, Inc. announced in 1966 it was ceasing operations in Puerto Rico, only two of the five sugar mills originally acquired were in operation, Central Fajardo and Central Juncos.  Central Cayey had been sold and Central Canovanas and Central Santa Juana had shut down, the former in 1965 and the latter in 1967. 

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* The link between the National Citi Bank and the sugar industry dates back to 1837 when Moses Taylor, a New York merchant who made a fortune trading sugar from Cuba, joined its Board of Directors.  In the early 1900s, the Board of Directors of National Citi Bank included Henry O. Havemeyer of the American Sugar Refining Co. and James Howell Post of the National Sugar Refining Company. 

** Manuel A. del Valle, was a distinguished businessman, founder and treasurer of the Santurce Development Company owner of the Edificio del Valle, was also president of the Association of Sugar Producers and president of Eastern Sugar Associates.  Mr. del Valle was also civically active and was president of the Puerto Rican Chapter of the YMCA.