Hacienda Mercedita facts for kids

Abandoned Central Mercedita sugar refinery office building. Notice the Snow White Sugar sign.

Hacienda Mercedita was a large sugarcane farm in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It was started in 1861 by Juan Serrallés Colón. This farm was once 300 acres big! Today, Hacienda Mercedita doesn't grow sugarcane anymore. Instead, its lands are used to grow mangoes, different types of grasses, and many kinds of plants and trees like palms, coconut palms, and bananas.

The Hacienda was like the main office for a huge sugar factory called Central Mercedita. This factory also had a plant that packaged Snow White brand sugar. Hacienda Mercedita is also famous because it's where rum production began in 1865. This led to the very successful Destilería Serrallés company, which makes Don Q rum and other drinks.

Central Mercedita stopped making sugar in December 1994. The old sugar mill is now abandoned. However, the Serrallés rum company is still growing and makes rum in the same place. The land where Central Mercedita processed sugar is now owned by Puerto Rico's Land Authority.

History of Hacienda Mercedita

An abandoned train on the grounds of the Central Mercedita sugarcane mill. The sugar farm became like its own small town.

Starting the Sugar Business

In the early 1800s, Don Sebastian Serrallés came from Spain and settled in Ponce. He started a farm called Hacienda Teresa. His son, Juan Serrallés Colón, followed in his footsteps. In 1861, Juan started his own sugarcane farm in Ponce. He named it Hacienda Mercedita to honor his wife, Mercedes Perez.

Hacienda Mercedita quickly grew into a big sugar factory called Central Mercedita. Just one year after it started, in 1862, the sugar cane crops were so good that Juan Serrallés began buying other nearby sugar mills. These included farms like La Laurel, La Fe, and Union. Hacienda Mercedita made sugar from sugarcane and packaged it as Snow White sugar. The land grew from 300 acres to a much larger area over time.

Making Rum at the Hacienda

In 1865, Juan Serrallés Colon tried making rum at the Hacienda. He made his first barrels of rum. He kept working on his rum recipe, and the rum business grew very fast. By 1890, Hacienda Mercedita was growing sugarcane on over 4,000 acres just for making rum.

For a while, the Serrallés company made different local rum brands. Many of these didn't last long. But the family saw how well other rum makers were doing. They decided to create a special brand to sell to other countries. In 1932, the Ron Don Q brand was created. It became very popular in Puerto Rico. People liked it more than rival brands like Bacardi, which was made in Cuba. In the 1930s, with money coming in, Juan Serralles built a large new home for his family in Ponce. This home is known today as the Serralles Castle.

By 1953, the rum business was very successful. The Serrallés family built a new factory with modern machines. By February 21, 1953, the Hacienda was no longer just a home. It became more of an office and business center. Its sugar cane company, Central Mercedita, Inc., was very busy. It bought sugarcane from local farmers and turned it into sugar. Central Mercedita Inc. and another company, Puerto Rican Sugar Refinery, Inc., worked together to make sugar in Puerto Rico.

In the 1950s, both the sugar cane and rum businesses were stable. The Hacienda ran two main operations. One made, packaged, and sold Snow White brand sugar. The other made, packaged, and sold Don Q rum. For the rum part of the business, Serralles started a new company called Destilería Serrallés Inc.

Life at the Hacienda

When Hacienda Mercedita was built in 1861, it was meant to be the home for the Serrallés family. But as the sugar business grew, it became more of an industrial place. It turned into the big Central Mercedita sugar factory.

After slavery was ended, the owners offered small garden plots to workers. These plots were both on and near the farm. This was in exchange for their labor. The Hacienda also had a general store where workers could buy things on credit. Workers were paid with special tokens that could only be used at the Hacienda's stores. This helped keep workers connected to the farm. The sugarcane farm became like a small company town. It even had its own rail line, homes for workers, a transportation fleet, a store, and a private airport. This airport later became the public Mercedita Airport in Ponce.

The End of Sugar Production

Ruins of the Snow White sugar refinery in Mercedita, Puerto Rico.

In 1973, the government of Puerto Rico created the Puerto Rico Sugar Corporation. This was an effort to save the sugar industry, which had been struggling for 20 years. This new company managed the remaining 13 sugar mills, including Central Mercedita. It also oversaw the Snow White Sugar Refinery, which was the only sugar refinery left on the island. The Puerto Rico Land Authority owned the Snow White sugar refinery.

However, the new government company quickly lost money. Ten years later, in 1983, the price of Mercedita's Snow White sugar was set by law. This was done to keep people happy. On December 31, 1994, Central Mercedita stopped processing sugarcane. It continued to refine sugar for other mills in Puerto Rico that needed it. But 1994 is generally seen as the year the sugar mill closed. Soon after, sugar refining at Mercedita stopped completely as the last sugarcane farms on the island closed. In 1998, the government gave ownership of the homes and land to the people still living on the old Mercedita plantation.

Plans for the Future

In the fall of 2001, the Sugar Corporation of Puerto Rico thought about building a new sugar plant. This plant would be big enough to supply all 50,000 tons of sugar that Puerto Rico uses each year.

The city of Ponce is trying to get the land of the old Central Mercedita. They want to turn it into a city park.

Hacienda Mercedita Today

The community where the old Central Mercedita operated is still there. It is also called "Central Mercedita." The main road to get there is PR-5506.

In June 2020, the hacienda was used as a background for a photoshoot. It featured the traditional Puerto Rican Bomba dance.

Important Events Timeline

Here are some important dates and events in the history of Hacienda Mercedita:

• 1861 – Hacienda Mercedita was founded.
• 1869 – Machines started to be used.
• 1879 – Ox carts were replaced by a railroad system.
• 1896 – Juan Serralles bought nearby farms and added them to Hacienda Mercedita.
• 1914 – (April 11) The company "Succession J. Serralles" was created.
• 1926 – A partnership with American investors created Porto Rican American Sugar Refining Inc. to make white sugar.
• 1949 – Central Mercedita Inc. was founded to process sugar cane from other farms.
• 1963 – Central Mercedita bought all the shares of Puerto Rican American Sugar Refining to become the only owner.
• 1969 – Another Serralles family business, Destileria Serralles (started in 1935), bought Central Mercedita.
• 1979 – Central Mercedita was sold to the government of Puerto Rico because the sugar cane industry was declining.
• 1995 – The Government of Puerto Rico closed Central Mercedita.

See also