Location: Arecibo
Date Established: 1896
Date Ceased Operations: 1910
Annual Production Graph: N/A
Average Annual Production: 5,112 Tons
Best Production Year: N/A
Family Ownership: Westphaling
Corporate Ownership: Central Oriente Co, Central Cambalache, Inc.
 

Central Oriente was established in 1896 by Carl Westphaling after he left his employment at Central Los Caños where he had worked since 1884 when he arrived from Bremen, Germany.  It was established on the banks of the Santiago River between Central Cambalache and Central Los Caños very close to the latter on what used to be the Hacienda San Gabriel of Felipe Correa.  Central Oriente was the first to contract any of the land recovered by drainage from the 5,000 acre tract under reclamation in the Caño Tiburones. 

On September 14, 1897, Westphalling & Co. received permission from the Government to use waters from the Santiago River.  According to information provided by Bernhart Westphaling, grandson of Carl, in 1910 Oriente had three mills, one used as a crusher with extraction of 75%.  Milling Capacity was 500 tons of sugarcane per 24 hours or production of 50,000 bags or 6,250 tons of sugar per 6 month crop from about 3,500 to 4,000 acres of sugarcane.  Average annual production from 1904 to 1908 was 26,560 bags of 200 pounds each. 

The original corporate name of Oriente was Westphaling & Co., in 1909 Westphaling & Co. sold all its assets to Central Oriente Co. which incorporators were: Carl Westphaling, David Wilson, a Scottish immigrant from Glasgow and Mendel Donchi, a Russian native educated in Berlin where he received a PhD in chemistry and who later worked at Central Aguirre.  The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer Volume 44 No. 9 dated February 26, 1910, states "The latest Central to join the ranks of active grinders has been the recently incorporated Central Oriente of Arecibo, under the management of Mr. F. Ferrer Barreras.  The owner of this Central, Mr. David Wilson, died last year in Glasgow, as advised in the columns of the Louisiana Planter."  In 1910, a year after the death of David Wilson while traveling in Scotland, Carl Westaphaling and the heirs of David Wilson decided to sell Central Oriente, Central Cambalache came up with the best offer and acquired it for $250,000.  Since Cambalache was only interested in its land, they immediately sold Oriente's machinery to the Oliver family for their new Central Alianza in Camuy. 

David Wilson was a very good engineer from Mirrlees Watson, well known among the sugar men of Puerto Rico at the time and the British Consul in Puerto Rico.  He had previously been an investor and member of the Board of Directors of Central Altagracia in Añasco.  In 1909 the Courts decided in favor of Wilson a libel suit brought against him by Central Altagracia, Inc. alleging that he caused significant losses by his statements about Altagracia's President mismanagement and incompetence.  This libel suit was a sequel to a previous suit filed by Mr. Wilson against Central Altagracia in which he requested the Court to appoint a receiver due to Altagracia's President mismanagement and incompetence. 

We thank Bernhard Westphaling of Bremen, Germany who provided valuable information regarding his grandfather Carl Westphaling, Central Los Caños and Central Oriente and who shared the following pictures and drawings from that era in the first gallery below.  The painting is Carl Westphaling's own painting of his Central Oriente.  The person in one of pictures is David Wilson.

Bernhard also clarified that the remains photographed in the second gallery below are not of Central Oriente but of Hacienda Teresa.  He states the sugar mill was located on the other side of PR-10 on the north side of Urb. Villa Angela about 650m northeast of Hacienda Teresa ruins.  Pictures of Hacienda Teresa ruins have been included because at one point in time appears to have been leased by Central Oriente to grow sugarcane on its lands.  In an email in March 2023, Bernhard states; "I often find the name Santa Teresa in the grandfather's balance sheets. I suspect that he rented this hacienda at that time".