Vives Family Papers

Initially one of the many small settlements along the southern coast of Puerto Rico, Ponce experienced massive growth in terms of population and industry in the first half of the nineteenth century when the Spanish Crown encouraged the migration of mainland citizens. Ponce, a coastal town with fertile land, underwent particular growth as the area attracted migrants with interests in agriculture. The main crops of the region included corn, coffee, and sugarcane. Demographic growth and foreign investment resulted in the boom of other industries. After the Spanish-American War in 1898, Ponce began to decline.

Salvador de Vives Rodó, the patriarch of the Vives family and eventual Mayor of Ponce in the late 1840s, was a Spanish immigrant who found opportunity and wealth in Puerto Rico. With his wife, Isabel, and son, Carlos Maria, he headed a powerful coffee plantation that would remain in the family for generations and only continue to grow in influence under the control of his son and grandsons. Carlos Maria and his own sons, Guillermo, Salvador, and Carlos II, would go on to manage the plantation well into the twentieth century.