Stationary Steam Engines in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Abstract

In Puerto Rico and each of the U.S. Virgin Islands, stationary steam engines survive on their original foundations and stand in testament to the long history of sugar production in the American territories of the Caribbean. In total, six beam engines, seven horizontal engines, one vertical engine, and a compound engine exist on the islands in various states of preservation, many amid the ruins of the plantations (haciendas) whose output they made possible. The whereabouts of an eighth horizontal engine recorded in 1976 remains unknown. Most were imported from Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century, but at least one is of American build. These machines not only provide unique examples of the adaption of steam technology to the needs of nineteenth-century sugar production but are also lasting symbols of an industry that once dominated the economy of these islands and remain deeply entwined in their history.