Mercedes Iron Works - El Salvador

Book Cover

Bartolo McIntire (Bartholomew McIntyre 1854-1924) was selected by Mr. Carlos Melendez, the President of El Salvador, to run The Mercedes Iron Works (Fundición Mercedes). This iron foundry and machine works was named in honor of President Melendez's mother. The following text from "Libro Azul" de El Salvador ("Blue Book" of Salvador) notes that "The Mercedes Iron Works will live in the memories of all as the wedge that opened the way for the march of progress."

Thank you Patricia Morales Tijerino for locating and sharing this bit of family history.

If you click on each image, it will enlarge.

Again, thank you Patricia for sharing this source with us.

Source: "Blue Book" of Salvador, Compiler and Editor: L. A. Ward; Latin American Publicity, Bureau, 1916, pages 11-14.

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In "Eran Mares los Cañales" (the sugar cane fields were like a sea) - History of Sugar in El Salvador,  Patricia Morales Tijerino found a passage which also talks about Bartolo McIntire and his participation in the development of El Salvador's economy. Sections from the book are shown below followed by Patricia's translation of the excerpt. Thank you Patricia for sharing this. (Book cover shown to the right.)

Starting from "La Fundición Mercedes: "The direction of the Fundición Mercedes (iron foundry) was commissioned to the US national Bartolo McEntire, it was born with the priority of meeting the mechanical needs of the family-owned sugar cane mills, without disregarding the provision of steel and metallic services and of general mechanics to other persons or insitutions not only from the country, but from the entire Central American region. Equipped with huge furnaces to smelt metals, lathes and metal mechanic benches, the company had a series of mishaps in its first decades, including a major fire that forced its entire reconstruction in December 1911, a remodellation that included purchasing new equipment and building an adjoining area destined for social affairs."

Source: Eran Mares Los Cañales, Publisher: Asociación Azucarera de El Salvador (Sugar Industry Association of El Salvador), 2009. Researcher: Cañas Dinarte, Carlos Manuel, 1971, pages 116-117.