|
|
| C a s t a ñ e r | |||||||||
|
Castañer is a small community in the center of the island of
Puerto Rico. It is surrounded by rough mountainous terrain. Because of the
isolation and difficulty in reaching this area, it was the last refuge of the
Puerto Rican Indians (this area is called the Indieras). It was slow to develop
and in the 1930s the PRRA established a community here. During the WW2 the
Church of the Brethren established a hospital there because of Castañer's
isolation, building upon what the PRRA had started. The Hospital expanded and is
now a modern hospital serving the Castañer area. |
Castañer was initially known as Los Rabanos, the name was changed to reflect the original
owners of the large farm that was the center of this area. The center of town is still call Los Rabanos. Juan Castaņer had a large farm in this area. It had started in 1868 as a small parcel of land that grew to a maximum of 2,441.25 "cuerdas" (cuerda is slightly less than 1 acre) by 1914 of which 1,500 were dedicated to coffee. In the decade of 1930 the descendants of don Juan Castaņer sold the hacienda Castaner to the Puerto Rican Government. |
This was parceled out to the previous
workers of the farm and to the local population of the barrio Bartolo of
Lares.
The population started settling near the old hacienda buildings, thus
starting the nucleus of the community that will become Castaner. In the decade of 1930 the descendants of don Juan Castaņer sold the hacienda Castaner to the Puerto Rican Government. This was parceled out to the previous workers of the farm and to the local population of the barrio Bartolo of Lares. The population started settling near the old hacienda buildings, thus starting the nucleus of the community that will become Castaner. |
|||||||
|
|||||||||
rikgroff@hotmail.com