União E Indústria (Union And Industry) Sugarcane Factory

Located in the municipality of Escada, it was founded in 1895 by Major in the National Guard Manoel Antônio dos Santos Dias, owner of the Usina Santa Philonila (St Philonila Sugarcane Factory), at the Jundiá plantation.

It initially received the name Santa Philonila, then later Bom Fim (Good Ending), Santos Dias (Holy Days) and finally União e Indústria (Union and Industry).

Until the beginning of the 20th Century, it belonged to the same owner, and then passed into the ownership of Luiz Dubeux.

In 1929, while owned by the Companhia Agrícola União Industrial de Pernambuco (Union Industrial Agricultural Company of Pernambuco), it had the capacity to process 500 tonnes of sugarcane and produce 8,000 litres of ethanol in 22 hours. It had 112km of railways, seven locomotives and 118 wagons that connected to the Great Western  railway. In the milling period around 213 workers were employed in the production of sugar alone. For its workforce, it maintained a pharmacy and two schools with an average annual attendance of 90 students.

In 1961, it was bought by the engineer and industrialist Luiz Dias Lins (grandson of Major Santos) who ran the company until 1980, when the factory became União e Indústria S/A (Union and Industry, Ltd.)

Finally, the factory began to be run by Ilvo Monteiro Soares de Meirelles and his wife, Maria Carolina Bezerra de Meirelles, its executive directors.

With over a hundred years since its founding, União e Industria Ltd had undergone periods of great difficulty, although after various reforms, it reached a production level of 90,000 sacks of sugar and 7,300,000 litres of ethanol in 1995.

Recife, 7 August 2003.
(Updated on 9 September 2009).
Translated by Peter Leamy, January 2012.

sources consulted

ANDRADE, Manuel Correia de. História das usinas de açúcar de Pernambuco. Recife: FJN. Ed. Massangana, 1989. 114 p. (República, v.1)

GONÇALVES & SILVA. O assucar e o algodão em Pernambuco. Recife: [s.n.], 1929. 90 p.

MOURA, Severino. Senhores de engenho e usineiros, a nobreza de Pernambuco. Recife: Fiam, CEHM, Sindaçúcar, 1998. 320 p. (Tempo municipal, 17).

how to quote this text

Source:  GASPAR, Lúcia. União E Indústria (Union And Industry) Sugarcane Factory.  Pesquisa Escolar Online, Joaquim Nabuco Foudation, Recife. Available at:  <https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009