Taco Bay Commercial Company Records
Scope and Content
The collection consists of correspondence, financial records and stockholders' reports.
Dates
- Creation: 1908-1919
Creator
- Taco Bay Commercial Company. (Organization)
Access
The collection is open for research.
Biographical/Historical Note
Taco Bay Commercial Company was an American-owned agricultural enterprise with extensive property holdings in Cuba from 1903 to 1920. The company had 21,000 acres of mostly cocoanut trees and cocoa plants with a small amount of sugar cane on its plantation near Baracoa in easternmost Oriente province. Its headquarters was in Boston with a major branch office in Jacksonville, Florida. The company was renamed Taco Bay Company following its sale in 1916 for $25,000.
Initially, directors of the company viewed the land as a safe investment and neglected to manage the holdings adequately. This oversight manifested itself in low crop yields in the early years, poor on-site management, and ongoing boundary disputes resulting from inadequate surveying and difficulties with Cuban officials. At least 7,000 acres were in dispute in 1912 with an additional 5,000 to 6,000 possibly included. Ultimately, Taco Bay regained the disputed property. The company president and the property manager both were replaced at about the same time.
The directors of Taco Bay Company conceded that they had neither the time nor the energy to oversee a plantation that continued to develop and increase in value. They sold the company to a group of investors in 1920 for $200,000 and the collection terminates at the point of the sale.
Extent
0.4 Linear feet (1 Box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Correspondence, financial records and stockholders' reports of the Taco Bay Commercial Company in Cuba.
Physical Location
University of Florida Smathers Library Building
Alternate Form of Finding Aid
This guide is available in Spanish at https://www.uflib.ufl.edu/findingaids/Spanish/msgroup151.pdf.
Alternate Form of Material
Digital reproductions of items in this collection are available online via the University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC). Please read the Permissions for Use statement for information on copyright, fair use, and use of UFDC digital objects.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- A Guide to the Taco Bay Commercial Company Records
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Dept. Staff
- Date
- August 2004
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Repository
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117005
Gainesville Florida 32611-7005 United States of America
352-273-2755
special@uflib.ufl.edu