Location: Guayanilla
Date Established: 1901
Date Ceased Operations: 1967
Annual Production Graph
Average Annual Production: 23,161 Tons
Best Production Year: 1952/39,946 Tons
Family Ownership: Trujillo, Mercado

According to the court case Franceschi et al vs. Trujillo & Mercado decided by the Puerto Rico Supreme Court on June 28, 1918, Hacienda Rufina was owned by the mercantile firm Antonsanti & Franceschi composed of Francisco Antonsanti (1843- ) and Juan Angel Franceschi Rodriguez (ca.1854-1895).  In 1884, Antonsanti & Franceschi mortgaged the hacienda in favor of Dionisio Torres y Figueroa Rodriguez (1799-1885) to secure a loan for 28,000 in local currency with maturity in 1888.  On June 12, 1885 Antonsanti & Franceschi was declared insolvent by the Ponce District Court who appointed Felix Tristani as receiver.

In 1895, while Hacienda Rufina was still under the administration of Tristani, the heirs of Dionisio Torres y Figueroa Rodriguez brought suit to recover the amount owed by Antonsanti & Franceschi on the mortgage in default since 1888.  As the result of this suit, Hacienda Rufina was ordered sold at public auction and that same year was acquired by Mario Mercado Montalvo (1855-1937) as the legal representative and attorney in fact of Spanish immigrant from Mallorca José Trujillo Pizá (1860- ).  Subsequently the hacienda was owned by the firm Trujillo & Mercado whose partners were Trujillo Pizá and Mercado Montalvo and at the time of the court decision by Mario Mercado & Sons.

In 1916 Trujillo Pizá, who at the time was also partner with Spanish immigrant Arturo Subiña Adriá (1861- ) in the firm Sucs. de Trujillo & Subiña which owned the well known hardware store in Ponce called El Cometa, sold his interest to Mercado Montalvo who then became sole owner of Central Rufina under the name Mario Mercado & Sons.  Based on the court case above, at the time of the court's decision in 1918, the sugar mill was owned by the firm Mario Mercado & Sons.    

Also part of the bankruptcy estate of Antonsanti & Franceschi were haciendas Faro and San Colombano, both of which were eliminated from the bankruptcy estate by foreclosure proceedings in 1885.  It was the consolidation of Haciendas Rufina, Faro and San Colombano that constituted the basis for Central Rufina.

It is not evident from the court case above, but possible that the debt referred to in it was a mortgage representing the deferred balance on the purchase transaction of the hacienda by Anotonsanti & Franceschi from Torres y Figueroa Rodriguez.  The 1833 Slave Register lists the nine most important haciendas in Guayanilla and includes Hacienda Rufina, property of Dionisio Torres y Figueroa in Barrio Indios.  Other information available states that by 1842 Dionisio Torres y Figuroa owned some 2,500 acres of land in Guayanilla, estate known as Hacienda Rufina in honor of his wife Rufina Torres Rodriguez.  

Mercado Montalvo had four children; Mario (1887-1975), Adrian (1892- ), Margarita (1884-1973) and Maria Luisa (1894-1983) Mercado Riera, all who inherited Rufina after his death in 1937.  The administration of the estate including the sugar mill rested in the hands of Mario Mercado Riera who became majority owner of the estate including the sugar mill when he acquired his sister Maria Luisa's participation. 

In 1935 Mercado Riera commissioned architect Francisco Porrata Doria with the design of a mansion at the top of a mountain overlooking the sugar mill which became known as "Castillo de Mario Mercado" or the Mario Mercado Castle and which picture you can see in the Puerto Rico Architecture page.  General belief is that the castle was built by Mercado Montalvo, although he did live at the castle the last two years of his life, it was built by his son Mario Mercado Riera.  As a kid, with Mercado Riera's grandson David Coffey who was my friend and neighbor, we would often spend weekends at the castle playing around and going horseback riding on the grounds of the sugar mill.  

A few years after Mercado Montalvo's death, a series of legal battles ensued between some of the heirs for alleged inconsistencies in the administration of the estate, part of which were related to the sugar mill.  The legal battles continued well into the 1960s as was the case Mario Mercado Riera et al., Defendants, Appellants, v. Margarita Mercado Riera, Plaintiff which reached the US Supreme Court.  One case, Mercado Riera vs. Mercado Riera related to a controversy between three of the four siblings, was decided on May 8, 1946 by the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. 

The sugar mill ceased to operate in 1967 and in 1974 was acquired by the Land Authority of Puerto Rico who dismantled it and sold its machinery to Ingenio Palo Gordo in Guatemala. The land in the immediate vicinity where the sugar mill was located, is currently being used to grow fruits.  According to one of the farm workers there, the damage to the chimney was caused by Hurricane Georges in 1998.